It had been a few months since John and Alexandra moved to Pendleton, and they had started getting into a routine. Every morning at 0600, John would wake up and get dressed before going in and waking Alexandra to get her ready for the day. They'd have breakfast then head to daycare to drop off Alexandra. John then headed to the base fitness center to get in his daily workout before reporting for duty. At 1645 he would duty off and head out to pick up his daughter. They'd have supper together then start Alexandra's nightly routine of bath, story, prayers, and bed. John's new C.O, General McGillis had worked out his duty schedule so that he could have the weekends with his daughter.
Saturday they would either find something to do off base or hang out around their neighborhood, enjoying the park, and if it was warm enough, go to the pool for more swimming lessons. John had already reached out to the YMCA about formal swimming lessons, but the next round wouldn't be starting until July, which was another few weeks away. Sunday started with attending services at the chapel near their house then heading home to change into casual clothes for their weekly trip to the commissary for groceries.
This Saturday, they were in the Crown Vic rolling down the I-5 towards San Diego. Trying to spare himself from an overly excited kid, he'd chosen not to tell her that this was the weekend that Nanna would be moving to California. He figured she'd enjoy the surprise when she saw her nanna for the first time since they'd left Chicago. What he hadn't expected was for Alexandra to break down in tears and have a full-blown panic attack when she saw that they were at the airport.
Pulling into the short-term parking lot, John quickly found a spot and parked so he could retrieve Alexandra from her car seat. "What's wrong, kid?"
"I don' wanna go onna pane!" Alex sobbed. "Pane make ears go 'owie!'"
"We're not getting on a plane, Alex, I promise," John assured her, wiping the tears from the little girl's cheeks.
"No pane?" Alexandra hiccoughed.
"No plane," John promised, "At least not for you and me, Kiddo. We're picking up someone special, so we're going to go inside and meet them, okay? We ain't getting anywhere close to the planes."
"'Kay," Alexandra agreed softly, still sniffling back tears as her daddy picked her up and shut the door behind them.
As they made their way toward the security exit, John saw a newspaper stand that had a few bouquets of flowers for sale. He stopped and looked at the bundles thoughtfully, "We should get some flowers for Nanna, don't you think?" He asked.
Alexandra nodded, "Nanna loves flowers!"
"Can you help me pick out some flowers for Nanna?" He asked, setting her down in front of the bucket.
John couldn't help but smile at how seriously Alexandra took her task, looking over the bouquets on offer before picking a colorful mix of daisies in unnaturally bright shades of blues, purples, and pinks.
"This one, Daddy!" Alexandra tried to pull the wrapped blooms out of the bucket, but couldn't get the right leverage, so John stepped in and pulled them out.
"We'll take these," John showed them to the vendor. He paid for the flowers, scooped his daughter up again, and walked the rest of the way to the waiting area. He checked the arrivals board and saw that his mom's plane had just landed, and took a seat, Alexandra on his lap clutching the flowers they'd bought while they waited. Luckily, they didn't have to wait for long before Helen came walking out of the secure area, purse on her shoulder and pulling a small suitcase behind her.
"Here are my favorite people!" She called, approaching the two.
"Nanna!" Alexandra jumped out of her father's lap and ran to hug her Nanna who had bent down to pick her up.
"Hey little bug!" Helen hugged her granddaughter tightly, pressing a kiss to the little girl's cheek, "Have you been good for Daddy?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Alexandra nodded.
"That's my girl," Helen praised before turning to her son, "Hey Johnny."
"Hi, Mom," John pulled the older woman into his side so he wouldn't squish his daughter by hugging his mom. "How was your flight?"
"Long, a little bumpy leaving Chicago, but what else is new?" Helen shrugged, "How have you two been settling in?"
"We've got a routine down," John shrugged, "Did you check anything?"
"A couple bags," Helen nodded, "I sold most of my things, but what little I kept is at Debbie's. She'll ship it out once I find my own place."
"Sounds good," John nodded releasing his mom and taking her roller bag as he led them down to baggage claim, "The RAPIDS office is closed over the weekend, so we won't be able to get you an ID until Monday. You'll need that to be able to access the services on base."
"I know it's been a while, but I was a military wife for many years, if you recall." Helen pointed out with a wry grin, "I'm familiar with how it works."
"Right," John nodded with a slight blush at his mother's light chastisement.
Alexandra filled her nanna in on everything she'd seen and done since moving to California while they walked to collect the last of Helen's luggage. John asked her to point out which bags were hers and he retrieved them as his mother and daughter chatted.
"…Daddy says I get to go to big kid church school soon!" Alexandra pronounced excited, "'Cause I'm gonna be four!"
"It is nearly your birthday, isn't it, little bug," Helen nuzzled the little girl, "What kind of cake do you want me to make?"
Alexandra thought about it seriously before grinning, "Sprinkle cake!" She shouted.
Helen laughed at her exuberance, "Sprinkle cake it is. I'll make sure your daddy gets some when we go shopping tomorrow."
Soon John had collected Helen's bags from the carousel and the trio were heading back to the short-term parking to head home.
Alexandra's birthday was on June 28th, barely making the July 1st cut off to enroll in pre-k 4. John and Helen had several long conversations both over the phone prior to her arrival and for a short time after, debating if they should let her enroll that year or wait another year. Helen had assured her son that Alexandra would be fine attending half-day pre-k few days a week, especially since she had been working with the girl on learning her numbers, shapes, colors, and alphabet. Taking his mother's words under advisement, he made sure to get Alexandra's vital documents together so that he could enroll her in the fall term which was scheduled to start at the end of August. First, though, he wanted to get through the girl's birthday.
Since his mom was now living with them, at least temporarily, John was able to get away and pick up a couple presents for his daughter from the Exchange. Helen had brought the gifts from herself and Debbie with her when she flew in, which left her more time to make Alexandra's birthday cake. True to her word, when they went shopping that first Sunday afternoon, she'd made sure to add confetti cake to their basket as well as the ingredients for buttercream frosting, food coloring, and a number four candle.
While John was out shopping and Alexandra was taking her afternoon nap, Helen quickly baked the cake. She'd had just enough time to remove the cake from the oven and put the layers of racks to cool and put them in the garage fridge before Alexandra woke up. She'd just finished washing the bowls and utensils she'd used when Alexandra came shuffling into the kitchen.
"Hey there, sleepyhead," She smiled down at the little girl, "I'm going to start making supper, would you like to help?"
Alexandra perked up a bit, "Yeah!"
"Great, let's go wash our hands and we can get started!" Helen announced, enthusiastically.
Once their hands were washed, Helen helped her granddaughter don a child-sized apron before looping one over her head as well. Going to the fridge, she pulled out a can of croissant rolls, hot dogs, and a block of cheese, setting them on the counter before grabbing a cutting board, a sheet pan, and a dough mat. While she was gathering the ingredients and tools she would need, Alexandra had pulled out her little stepstool from where it was kept between the fridge and the counter.
"Nanna, help pease," Alexandra looked up at her nanna.
With a smile, Helen unfolded and locked the stepstool into place before going to the cutting board and slicing off a few pieces of cheese which she then cut into strips. She likewise cut long pockets into the hot dogs. She showed Alexandra how to fit the cheese into the slit in the hot dogs then roll them up in a triangle of bread dough to make pigs in a blanket.
When they'd finish rolling up the hot dogs, Helen, who had warmed up the oven while they were prepping, slid the sheet pan of wrapped hot dogs into the oven to bake until the dough was cooked through.
John returned home just before supper was finished cooking and quickly packaged up Alexandra's gift while his mother finished setting the food out on the table. He knew that he would miss sitting down for supper with his whole family when his mom found her own place and made a mental note to try to have her over for a meal at least once a week.
When supper was finished, the three of them gathered in the living room so that Alexandra could open her gifts. Her grandma had gotten her a Dora doll and had found a bookbag that looked like Dora's backpack for when Alexandra started pre-k. Debbie had sent some books she had loved as a child, as well as one story book featuring the characters from Alexandra's favorite tv show.
"I'm sensing a theme here with the gifts from you and Debbie," John grunted a chuckle at his mom.
Helen shrugged, "She hasn't shown much interest in things not Dora related for a while now, so why not?"
"Good point," John nodded and handed the present he'd gotten for his daughter, ignoring the good-natured giggle from his mother at his terrible wrapping job. "Here you go, Alex. Happy birthday."
Alex looked at the package that her father had sat in her lap and began to unwrap it. The box held a set of plastic food replicas along with utensils and plates.
"There's one more thing, but I have to go get it." John told them and quickly made his way out to the garage, returning a few moments later with a kitchen play set with a mock-up stove, sink, and fridge. He set it on the ground and kneeled next to the playset while his daughter checked it out
Alexandra's eyes widened as she looked up at her daddy excitedly, "I get a kitchen?!"
"That's right kid," John smiled, "I know how much you like cooking with Nanna, thought you'd like to have a kitchen of your own."
"Tank you, Daddy!" Alexandra threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and smacking a kiss on his cheek.
"You're welcome, Kid," John grinned, wrapping his little girl up in his arms.
Helen watched the two, a huge smile on her face, thinking how right she was that John was made to be a dad. Helped to smooth out his hard edges and gave him something aside from the terrors of war to focus on.
"Well, I think it's about time for some birthday cake, what do you two say?" Helen asked, rising from her seat.
"Yay!" Alexandra cheered as she followed her nanna into the dining room, her father following close behind. She waited patiently while her grownups sang the birthday song to her and blew out the candle in the shape of a 4 that sat on top of the cake.
Helen cut a few slices of cake for them to enjoy. After dessert was finished, she went to put the cake away and clean up from supper as John got Alexandra ready for bed. She'd just finished loading and starting the dishwasher when Alexandra came running into the kitchen in a Dora night gown, her combed but still damp hair hanging down her back.
"Good night, Nanna!" Alexandra lifted her arms to be picked up in a hug.
"Good night, little bug," Helen replied, lifting the girl into her arms and carrying her into her room where John was waiting.
It had become their habit since she had arrived to read Alexandra's story and pray together before the girl when down for bed. Tonight's story was 'The Giving Tree,' one of the books Debbie had given to Alexandra for her birthday.
Alexandra was getting sleepy by the end of the story, so the three of them quickly said their prayers together before the girl was tucked into bed and kissed good night by her daddy and nanna.
A few weeks after Helen had come to stay with John and Alexandra, she'd found a condo a few miles from the base, close enough for her to get there within 10 minutes if needed. Escrow would close in a month and in the mean time she was still living on base at Camp Pendleton. One of the benefits of her staying with her son and granddaughter was that she was able to reconnect with some old friends whose spouses and/or children were still in the corps. Polly McGillis had been one of her closest friends way back when, a fact that made John groan as he realized his mom's best Marine Wife friend was the wife of his current C.O. Polly was well known around the base for setting up events and trips to allow the spouses to bond. Sometimes it was for anyone, others the trips were tailored for certain spouses.
The trip that had been planned were for the wives of the senior officers. A long weekend up to Napa. Helen had been grandfathered into the group since her husband had been a colonel when he passed, which made her around the same age as the rest of the group of mostly 50 and 60-something women. Friday morning, she'd packed her bag, kissed her son and granddaughter goodbye, reminding the former that she would have her cell phone if he needed her, and hopped into Polly's car to drive out to the San Diego airport where they would catch a flight up to Oakland where they would be met with a shuttle to take them the rest of the way to wine country not to return until Monday.
John had just returned from his meal break when he felt his cell phone vibrating in the pocket of his uniform pants. "Casey," He grunted into the phone.
"Captain Casey, this is Delores from your daughter's daycare," The woman on the other end informed him, "There was an accident and Alexandra was injured. We think she may have broken her arm. We cannot get a hold of your mother, who is listed as the primary emergency contact when you're on duty, and we feel it's best to have someone come pick her up and take her to be examined."
Casey's heart dropped to his toes, his baby girl was hurt. "Yeah, my mom is on that wine tour thing that the General's wife set up. I'll let my C.O. know that I have to take emergency leave and I'll be right there."
"Very well, Captain, we will see you shortly." The woman replied and disconnected.
John got himself dismissed quickly upon explaining what had happened and was soon in his car racing across base, hoping that he wouldn't catch hell for it. In less than 15 minutes from the original phone call, he was throwing the car into park and running into the building that housed his daughter's daycare. He easily found the Dolores' office where his daughter sat, crying allegator tears, her left arm in a sling.
"What the hell happened?" John demanded looking at the woman who looked to be about 10 years his senior with her greying hair pulled back in a bun and glasses that were verging on too large for her face.
"Alexandra was playing on the jungle gym with some of the other children." Dolores explained, "It's a popular feature of our playground, so there were several children climbing and playing on the structure. We don't know if she was pushed or simply lost her balance and fell, but the duty aide heard her scream, and the other kids gasp when they saw that she had fell. The aide got me immediately; I did a basic triage and put her injured arm in a sling. She also had the wind knocked out of her for a moment, but as you can see, she is breathing fine now."
"Thank you for calling me, I'll take her over to the naval hospital," John nodded going to collect his daughter.
"Actually, you would do best to go to the pediatric urgent care that is about 10 minutes from the south gate." Dolores stopped him, "A few of the corpsmen and medical staff have children here and have mentioned that they are severely short staffed over there. If you took her to there, you'd be waiting a long time to be seen." She handed him directions to the urgent care clinic. "This urgent care clinic is an extension of the children's hospital in San Diego."
Casey grunted his understanding as he picked up his daughter, careful to not jostle her potentially broken arm too much. "Has she been given anything for her pain?"
"No, we didn't want to give her something that might interact badly with whatever they give her at the emergency room." Dolores explained.
"Understood," Casey grunted and headed out the door and to the car. He gently placed his daughter into her car seat and went to buckle her in. He gave his daughter an apologetic look, "Hey kid, I know your arm hurts something bad, and I hate to do this, but I have to move your arm so that I can buckle you in." He gently explained, "It's probably going to hurt, but I'm going to do my best to not let it hurt too bad. Can you be brave for me for just a few seconds so I can get you buckled in and off to see the doctor?"
"Yes, sir," Alexandra sniffled before putting on her brave face, only whimpering once as her daddy gently maneuvered her arm through the strap of her carseat.
"Good girl," John dropped a kiss on his daughter's head before closing her door and rounding the car to his seat.
As Dolores had said, once they exited the base it only took them about 10 minutes or so to arrive at the clinic. He got Alexandra out of the car as quickly and as painlessly as he could manage and soon they were entering the clinic.
"Hey, my daughter fell off a jungle gym at daycare and may have broken her arm," John informed the receptionist, who he noticed had given him a quick look-over as he'd walked in. "Her name is Alexandra Casey, date of birth is June 28th, 2003." He informed her handing her the insurance card and his license from his wallet.
The receptionist took a quick copy of both and handed them back to him. "Okay, we'll get you in as soon as we can," The receptionist gave Alexis a sympathetic smile before handing John a clipboard, "In the meantime, please fill out these forms."
John grunted his understanding, accepted the clip board and found seats for them. Alexandra wanted to cuddle, and John found himself wishing his mom was here so that she could take the paperwork so that he could focus on just comforting his daughter. He did the best he could with filling out the form around his daughter.
Luckily the clinic hadn't been too busy and soon the door to the patient area opened and a young woman in colorful scrubs entered the room, "Alexandra Casey?"
John stood with his daughter and followed the nurse through the door. The nurse did the usual early visit work up, weight, height, blood pressure, and pulse, noting them in the file she had before confirming the reason for their visit before assuring them the doctor would be in soon and leaving the room.
A knock sounded on the door a few minutes later and an older man with grey hair and a kind face entered the room, pulling the stool out from under the counter to sit in front of John and Alexandra. "Good afternoon, I'm Doctor Calvin Clark. I hear someone took a little tumble."
"Yeah, her daycare said she fell of the jungle gym." John informed the doctor.
The older man nodded, "Alright, we can look into seeing if there is any damage, but before we start, I have a resident working with me, do you mind if she sits in?"
"No skin off my nose," Casey shrugged.
The older man smiled warmly and nodded before standing and opening the door, "You may come in," He informed his medical student, "John and Alexandra, this is Doctor Eleanor Bartowski."