Chapter 11

Karma with Sprinkles on Top

From Chapters 35, 46 and 52 of "It's all in the name…" we find out exactly what happened that day at Grandma Betty's house when a five-year-old Jamie took his first major tumble down a flight of steps resulting in a matching set of panicked parents and grandparents, a trip to the ER, some double-dipped chocolate ice cream and one very sorry older brother.


"Mom, I can't thank you enough for watching the children on such short notice today since Frank was called into work unexpectedly and there's no one to cover my volunteer shift in the kitchen at the Pediatric Cancer Arts Festival," Mary Margaret Reagan breathed in relief as she quickly shepherded her flock of four through the ornate leaded glass front door and into their grandparent's home on a sunny but somewhat chilly Saturday in early June.

The expressions on the youngest Reagan's faces were variable though, ranging from a bright-eyed pure impish grin accented with two missing bottom front teeth from the youngest, five-year-old Jamison "Jamie" Reagan, to a more serious studious look from the second in line, ten-year-old Joseph "Joey" who was clutching his latest "Hardy Boys" mystery novel with an obvious intent to continue reading through the imposed lockup for the afternoon since Grandma Betty took her babysitting assignments seriously and rarely let the younger children out from under her watchful eye. Likewise, twelve-year-old Erin followed closely behind with her arms full of fabric and sewing patterns, determined to make the best of things and get a head start on a few new summer dresses with a grandmother who was a very skillful seamstress and always happy to lend a hand to her only granddaughter. The lone sullen-looking face belonged to a nearly fourteen-year-old Daniel "Danny" Reagan who was less than thrilled with the fact that his mother had disallowed his request to stay home alone for the afternoon despite the fact he was a teenager after all and not a baby like the rest of his siblings. Danny was wholly prepared to be bored for hours now as he was convinced the only television in his elders' house would either be off or tuned to some kind of kiddy show for his little twerp of a baby brother meaning he was sure to miss the New York Mets doubleheader with the hated division rival Philadelphia Phillies that he had been looking forward to all week.

"It's not a problem, dear," Betty assured as she helped Jamie unzip and shrug off his hoodie. "Shoes," she reminded the little boy in the foyer before he could dash off through her spotless living room and he obediently slipped off his sneakers and stored them neatly by the door before running to the kitchen in his socked feet. "Henry will be home to mow the backyard in a few hours and after that's finished the older boys can help him weed the flowerbeds," she suggested, eliciting a heavy inward sigh and roll of the eyes by Danny. The Reagans were not ones to shrink away from physical labor and although their grandfather was the odds-on favorite to remain as the Police Commissioner even as the new mayor was sworn in, he was not about to let anyone take over the maintenance responsibilities of his own home and yard. If there was anything worse than missing his favorite baseball team play on a beautiful Saturday, Danny knew it was missing them because he was toiling in a stupid garden pulling out innumerable dandelions and other prickly things all afternoon. Grandma Betty was nothing if not practical though, and he was well aware she had no qualms about handing out chores as if they were chiclets from the candy drawer.

"I help too!" Jamie replied excitedly while he circled back around with boundless energy as he returned to say goodbye to his mommy.

"No, child… not this time," Grandma Betty chided as she ruffled his short sandy-brown hair affectionately. "You needed a week's worth of oatmeal baths after Grandpa forgot to watch and let you pull up those poison ivy plants with your bare hands, remember?"

"Itchy," Jamie agreed with a wrinkled nose and grimace as he subconsciously scratched his arms at the memory of that unfortunate little adventure from earlier in the spring. "Leaves of three, let them be," he prattled off the lesson he had learned the hard way in a sing-song voice.

"That's right, baby," Mary Margaret smiled as she hugged him and scanned the rest of her brood, immediately noting the rather glum expression on one particular face. Daniel Reagan had never been the easiest child, and now that he was getting older he was starting to test the boundaries of the oftentimes strict Irish Catholic family structure so she had wavered about the decision to allow him to stay at home alone today while his parents were gone, in the end opting for the peace of mind generated by the fact that even Danny had respect for his no nonsense grandparents and was unlikely to step out of line at their house. After a few recent knock down drag outs with his father over his behavior, Mary hoped for a peaceful weekend in the family and did not want to give her son the opportunity to ignite Frank's ire once more.

"Well, I must be going or I'll be late," she informed them as she offered a hug and kiss to all, even her obdurate teenager who pulled away from her grasp. "Mind your grandparents and your father promised to take us all out for ice cream and mini golf this evening if he's able to come home at a reasonable hour."

"Fat chance," Danny muttered under his breath as Frank's rising promotion to Chief of Detectives eight months ago had resulted in multiple missed Saturdays like this one during an uneasy adolescent adjustment period when the boy could have really used a more steady and less stressed paternal presence in the home like today when he and his dad might have spent the whole afternoon at the ballpark together, something that had not happened once yet this year. Still it seemed to Danny that his parents always found time to cater to Jamie's needs as the youngest, although if he were honest with himself he would have admitted that was because his little brother was generally cheerful and happy with whatever attention he received while the older children's activities were more demanding of time and difficult to schedule around. It was with that bit of jealousy though that he grumbled as he viewed Jamie's excitement over the prospect of family time at the putt putt center.

"Can we get chocolate with sprinkles?" the little boy was asking in wide-eyed wonder at the thought of his two most favorite things.

"Of course, baby… as long as you are a good boy this afternoon and your father is able to get away on time, okay?" Mary reminded as she pulled him in for one last hug before standing up to take her leave. "I should be home right after five o'clock to pick you up. Love you all and thanks again, Mom. I'll be in the stand at Cedar Beach Park… here's the number for the office there if you need to reach me."

"Oh, we'll have no worries here, dear. Just go and enjoy yourself," Grandma Betty assured as she took the paper anyway and put it in her apron pocket before she saw her daughter-in-law out and closed the front door behind her. "Now, children… what would you like for lunch?"

"Grilled cheese!" came the shrill little excited voice of her youngest grandson and an instant moan of disapproval from the other three.

"Not again!" Joey complained as he smacked the side of his head… just how many of those sandwiches could one little kid eat before they burst out of his ears, he wondered. "Grandma, we always have those at home for lunch. Can we have something else, please?" he begged as he pulled out his own big puppy dog eyes for added measure.

"Well," she smiled as she sought to preserve the peace. "Jamison may have his grilled cheese, but I have leftover pot roast from yesterday's supper. How about some hot open-faced sandwiches with gravy?"

"Yes, please!" came the unanimous enthusiastic reply from the four as they all knew their grandmother was an excellent cook, and any lunch she prepared like that was sure to be mouth-wateringly good.

"Very well then," she agreed. "Keep yourselves occupied for a few moments while I'm in the kitchen."

"Grandma, may I please turn the television on to watch the start of the baseball game?" Danny asked in his most polite, penitent voice… all the while knowing that Betty Reagan was not a fan herself of the All-American game… too much spitting, swearing, scratching of private regions and unholy consumption of alcohol on Sundays she claimed.

"Not with Jamison in the room," Betty tutted as she was determined the little impressionable boy would not be corrupted by such things under her roof, ironically with a similar logic as Danny himself who could not help but protectively cover Jamie's eyes whenever something even remotely scary or suggestive appeared on the screen. "Perhaps later when he takes a nap."

"But, Grandma, I'm big now," Jamie frowned in protest as he looked up from his toys with the same shared competitive spirit as the rest of his siblings. "No more naps," he insisted.

"We'll see about that, kid," Danny hissed under his breath as his brain began to formulate a plan to see to it that Jamie's eyes were shut by the start of the second game at the very latest, although he was unaware at that point exactly how prophetic those thoughts would be and how very hard he would be praying for those big hazel orbs open up again instead.

###

"No more stories, Danny!" Jamie whined as he tried unsuccessfully to wiggle out of his older brother's grasp as they sat on the bed of the spare bedroom upstairs while stage three of Operation Shuteye had failed to produce the desired results yet. "I wanna go downstairs to play with my blocks now!" the little boy insisted with frustration evident in his voice.

"C'mon kid, you love books… just lay down and listen to one more," Danny demanded as he was growing desperate now since he knew his grandfather was nearly done with the mowing outside so he would soon be required to join the weeding brigade along with Joe and he was doggedly determined to be able to watch at least the last inning of the first game as a quick listen to the radio had revealed the Mets' superstar pitcher Dwight Gooden was currently flirting with a no-hitter going into the seventh inning stretch and the older boy was determined to witness history... now if he could only get the little twerp to cooperate. Thus far Danny had pointedly filled Jamie up on all the extra milk he could sneak into his glass during lunch when no one was looking and conned him into marching up and down the stairs countless times on a sabotaged game of hide and seek with his older siblings. Now came what should have been the easy part… the reading of a few cherished bedtime stories which would have normally seen the little boy fast asleep in la la land with barely a second thought.

Except for today of course... today of all days Jamie's eyes were stubbornly still wide open.

"Please, kid," Danny begged as he resorted to stage four bribery. "I'll let you beat me tonight at every hole if we go golfing and you can eat half my ice cream cone, I promise! Just take a little nap so Grandma will let me watch the baseball game downstairs before I have to go outside, pretty please with sprinkles on top?"

"Sprinkles?" Jamie's eyes lit up as he was at first tempted by the thought before his brain clicked on the fact that it was just an expression and there were no real bits of confection forthcoming, at least for now. "NO!" he cried as he frustratingly renewed his struggle. "I not tired! I'm big too! Let me go!"

"Oh, you just have to ruin everything!" Danny finally snapped in a misguided fit of adolescent anger as he threw his little brother back on the bed with more force than necessary and scowled as he stood up. "I hate you!" he swore out loud and then immediately regretted those words as a pair of big shocked hazel puppy eyes stared back at him and took on an absolutely puddled expression before enormous tears immediately welled up inside and spilled over.

"Mommy says that's a bad word!" Jamie cried as he jumped off the mattress to the floor and bolted through the doorway and into the upstairs hallway. "I'm telling Grandma on you!"

Now Frank Reagan himself was well-known in many circles to be a six-four tower of outright pure intimidation if the mood struck him just right and Grandpa Henry was of course famous for being able to drop two perps to their knees with just his patented evil eye look, but neither could hold a candle to Grandma Betty if her indomitable Irish wrath was sparked in anger, and even as a teenager Danny quaked in fear with the thought of the pending repercussions once she heard those ugly words coming out of her precious youngest grandson's mouth in a sitrep. He instinctively darted after his brother in a determined effort to stop him before he got that far, but Jamie was deceptively fast and agile for a little kid and he managed to avoid Danny's grasp until a last-second lunge finally met its mark and those reaching hands brushed against his back just as he hesitated and tried to stop himself in socked feet at the top of the solid oak staircase descending from the second floor of the home's high ceilings. Danny watched in horror as Jamie slid instead and lost his balance while his momentum carried him down the first several steps on his feet before launching him forward in a roll and ultimately headfirst into the solid wall on this side of the foyer closet when he came to the bottom.

The sickening thud as his little brother's head hit the plaster reverberated through Danny's heart and he stood frozen in place at the top of the stairs staring down in shock while Jamie's small body remained perfectly still where it had finally come to a rest facedown on the landing below. Time stopped as those last words spoken in anger echoed through his brain.

I hate you...

"GRANDMA! GRANDMA! HELP! IT'S JAMIE!" Erin screeched immediately in a terror-filled high-pitched sisterly wail as she caught sight of what had happened from her seat in front of the portable sewing machine at the breakfast bar in the kitchen… a tone that had the Reagan family matriarch instantly dropping a load of freshly cleaned laundry on the floor of the back mud room and hurrying towards the front of the house with her heart in her throat. Joey was the first to reach his baby brother, however, as he sprinted over from his seat by the reading lamp in the living room. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he looked down and spotted a growing trickle of bright red blood spilling down Jamie's forehead across his face and onto the hardwood floor from a nasty cut on the side of his right temple.

"DANNY, WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he yelled back up at his older brother who still remained silent as all the color had also completely drained out of his own face.

"SWEET JESUS, HOLY MARY AND… JOSEPH! Go get your Grandfather NOW!" Grandma Betty exclaimed in a thundering panicked voice after she rounded the corner and fell to her knees next to the prone little boy once his brother had run out of the room on his assigned mission. "Oh my God in heaven! St. Gerard, please bless this child in your mercy," she beseeched the holy patron of injured children before carefully cradling Jamie's neck as she rolled him slowly over on his back so he could breathe easier. A former nurse herself, albeit from many years ago, she was able to check some of the quelling fear in her heart as she thankfully noted the steady rise and fall of his small chest. "ERIN! dear, bring me some clean dishcloths!" she ordered and tried to stanch the growing flow of blood with pressure once her granddaughter hastily complied.

"Grandma, I'm sorry!" Danny cried as he finally found his voice although he was sick to his stomach at the sight below. "I didn't mean it!"

"Shush, Daniel Reagan!… now is not the time!" Betty glared back up at him with no mercy yet in her heart. "See what you have done!"

A loud bang of the back door and heavy running footsteps signaled Henry's arrival as he rushed to his wife and youngest grandson's side. "BETTY! HOW IS HE? What in the hell happened in here?!" he begged for answers while he put a hand on her shoulder and looked over while noting that no one had yet called for help as the now profusely bleeding head wound had already soaked through the first cloth. "God help us! Joseph! Bring that phone over to me NOW!" he ordered as his most level-headed grandson obediently pulled the telephone over on a long cord.

"He's not waking!" Betty stated the obvious in the background as her husband called into a direct line to have an ambulance and squad car dispatched to the Police Commissioner's home immediately. Despite her training and normally strong countenance she was still overwhelmed with the sight of the pale and still expression of one of her own innocents in this condition. "He's losing too much blood for a little one... we need a doctor! Henry, we must get him there quickly!" she advised as she glanced up in his eyes. "How will we ever tell Mary and Francis? Jamison is their baby!"

"Now Betty, he'll be fine, he has to be," Henry advised shakily before cursing out loud as the dispatcher gave him and ETA on the ambulance. "What do you mean it will be at least twenty minutes?!" he roared into the phone. "Do you know who you are talking to? This is my grandson bleeding and unconscious here!" he demanded before adding a "Son of a…" before he stopped himself as he realized three other Regan siblings were picking up on their panic and one look at Danny still frozen at the top of the steps confirmed that there were multiple levels of shock setting in with those around him. "Damn budget cuts closed too many firehouses around here, especially on the weekends! There's a big accident on the Verrazano and every available bus in the area is out. They're sending one from Flatbush!"

"Grandpa, there's an RMP here now!" Joey relayed as he jumped to his feet at the sound of the approaching siren and ran to the door to open it for the officers on reflex and out of desperation to do whatever he could for his little brother. He would have carried Jamie to the hospital in his own arms at that point if he could have as it was obvious even to the other children that he needed to go there quickly. "They'll take us!" he added with firm belief, after all his Daddy and Grandpa were cops and he knew they would stop and help any injured child they could. Surely all policemen did that.

"Betty, do you think we can move him?" Henry questioned just as a multitude of prayers were answered and Jamie suddenly stirred on his own.

"Grammy!" he cried as he opened his eyes and pulled his hand up towards his face while actively squirming his legs to his grandparents' great relief. "Stop! Hurts! Help me!"

"Jamison, child… Grandma is helping you, please hold still now," Betty cooed in her softest motherly voice as she now sought to sooth him. "Do you hurt anywhere else?" she asked as she felt him up and down looking for other trauma or broken bones.

"No! Stop! M'head hurt!" he offered again as he tried to push the towel and the pressure away. At this point it had done little to slow anything down, and it was time for another replacement which Erin shakily provided after a second directed run to the kitchen, the sight of Jamie like that was making his sister physically ill and the tears were streaming down her face. "I want my Mommy! P'ease!" he begged.

"We can't wait that long, I'm taking him to St. Vic's now," Henry proclaimed as he had seen enough to be fairly confident that they were only dealing with what he hoped was a superficial head wound, but he still wanted his grandson under a doctor's care as soon as possible to get the bleeding stopped. He gathered up the crying and frightened little boy carefully in his arms and tried not to jostle him too much as his two officers rushed in the house. "Shush now, Jamie. You get to take a ride with me in a real police car with lights and sirens, son," he cajoled as he tried to comfort the child and distract him. "Grandpa has you."

"Renzulli, stay here and help my wife," he ordered as he stood up while still applying pressure. "Jeffers, get us to that hospital, NOW!" he barked as the second man rushed back outside to open the door to the waiting car. "Betty, call Francis and Mary and have them meet me down there," Henry advised on his way out the front door. "You stay here with the other children and I'll call you just as soon as I know anything," he promised as he quickly disappeared off the porch and down the steps leaving the rest of the family and one very anxious and intimidated young Italian rookie patrol officer to stare back at Grandma Betty waiting for direction.

###

"Reagan!" Frank barked with annoyance into the phone at his desk. His day had already certainly gone to hell in a handbasket as his father was often want to declare. One of his top detective teams out of Manhattan North had lost the tail on a very important witness in an upcoming federal case and that man had just turned up dead in an alleyway in Soho. After fielding displeased calls from multiple agencies and offices from around the city and state, he was in no mood to suffer another fool as it were, but the familiar voice and tone it was offered with on the other side of the line was enough to stop his whole world from rotating with one single word.

"Francis," his mother started with deep regret. She had decided to call her son first out of guilt and abject fear as to how her daughter-in-law might react to the news that her precious and much-loved baby boy had been injured so badly under his grandmother's watch.

"Mom? What is it?" he asked as he jumped to his feet, forgetting for a moment that his own children were currently in her care. "Is it Dad? Did something happen?" he begged as he was instinctively already reaching for his car keys with the knowledge that his mother would never bother him at work in this manner unless it was something serious.

"No, Francis… son, it's Jamison. He's taken a bad fall down the steps here and struck his head. I'm so sorry, dear. Your father is taking him to St. Victor's in a squad car right now. You must meet him there," she advised as calmly as possible which did little to quell the instant parental panic those words ignited as he could now make out the anguished voices of his other children in the background as Joey and Erin were unleashing on their own version of sibling hell on Danny for his role in hurting their baby brother.

"It's bad?" he echoed in disbelief as part of his consciousness sought to make sense of what he just heard while the other part was already rushing down the steps to get to his injured young boy even as his feet remained firmly rooted to the ground in his office. "How… how did this happen?!"

"We'll discuss that later. He was unconscious and bleeding heavily from a cut on the side of his forehead," his mother advised as many years of being a police officer's wife came to the forefront and she offered the pertinent facts she knew Frank would need no matter how hard they were to say out loud. "But he woke up and was talking to us and moving around just before your father took him. The ambulance was taking too long, dear. Francis, you must fetch Mary Margaret and go down there."

"Mary," Frank breathed as he was suddenly overwhelmed at the thought of how his wife would react to this as she had been overprotective of this child since before he was born and given ample cause to worry throughout a difficult pregnancy after the heavy losses of two prior to that had taken a great toll on her mentally and physically. "Where is she…?" he asked as his normally sharp mind was rendered slow and impotent with this news.

"She's volunteering at the hospital benefit at Cedar Beach Park," Betty reminded him. "She gave me the number for the office. I'll call ahead so she's waiting when you arrive. She shouldn't drive herself. Francis, you must go and take her to the hospital," she reiterated once again as she sensed her son was in shock and needed yet another prompt. "Now, I'm sure Jamison will be just fine... but he's crying for his mother."

"I'm on my way; tell her I'll be there in ten minutes!" he affirmed before dropping the receiver on the desk without hanging up and running with all the speed he could muster out to his waiting car before driving off to pick up his wife in due haste. When he finally arrived after what seemed like an eternity he found her standing at the front gate of the park being supported by Sally Richards, one of her long-time friends from church. Mary had been left reeling by the news from Grandma Betty's call and the sounds of her other children in the background crying for their mother and calling out Jamie's name despite their matriarch's repeated assurances that all would be well soon.

"FRANK!" Mary sobbed hysterically as he parked and rushed over to her… wise advice offered on his mother's part as she was certainly in no condition to drive herself.

"Now, Mary Margaret, please don't go there… Mom said he's going to be okay," he sought to console in a calm voice as he helped her over to the car and thanked Sally for her assistance. "She said he was awake, talking and asking for you… that means it can't be too serious. You know how Jamie is, he bounces back from this sort of thing like it never even happened. He'll be fine," he emphasized, using the little boy's preferred words for whenever an unexpected bump or boo-boo occurred. "Pop just took him in like that to have the cut looked after otherwise I'm sure a bowl of chocolate ice cream and a few sprinkles would have done the trick," he tried to hearten before climbing back behind the wheel and pointing the car towards the hospital which was mercifully only a short distance away. Mary was not entirely buying his comforting act though and her knuckles were white as she clutched his arm on their way into the emergency department after Frank swiftly parked his car in one of the official NYPD reserved spaces up front and hurried them inside.

The couple immediately spotted an anxious-looking Henry Reagan as he was pacing in the waiting room, but Mary's vision tunneled as she noticed a not-so-small red stain on the front of her father-in-law's shirt from where he had held the little boy up against himself during the ride over in the squad's backseat.

Jamie's blood.

Frank immediately felt her go light on the end of his arm and he rushed to sit her down in a chair before she could faint.

"Pop, where is he?!" Frank choked out as he kneeled next to his wife and despite his earlier resolve and years of training he now found himself now firmly back in a panic mode himself with the sight.

"He's fine," Henry tried to reassure as he rushed over while cursing the fact that he hadn't thought to change or at least clean himself up before they got there. "The doctor was just out a minute ago. She said everything looks normal so far but they've given him a little something to calm him down and he's headed for a CT scan just to make sure before they stitch him up. They've already stopped the bleeding. He was very excited to ride in the police car with the lights and sirens on…" he admitted in great relief. "It's all he was talking about before we got here. Now Mary Margaret, don't you worry honey, he's a Reagan and we're all blessed with very hard Irish heads," he added in a mild attempt at humor to comfort his still-stunned daughter-in-law.

"How did this happen?" was the next question out of Frank's mouth as relief swept over him although he would not feel fully at peace until he saw Jamie with his own eyes. "I've talked to him… he knows better than to run on the stairs anymore."

"Francis, you'll have to ask your mother when you get home. I'm sure she's gotten to the bottom of it by now. I was outside in the yard before Joey ran out to get me, but if I had to guess it was just an accident. Danny was upstairs with him…"

"Daniel," Frank seethed as the recent strife with his oldest came rushing back to the forefront. The boy had become insolent lately, and if there was one thing he hated it was snide disrespectful back talk from one of his own children. "Of course he had a hand in this."

"Frank, please… one crisis at a time," Mary begged as she finally found some composure and her voice as she pulled on his arm, thoroughly regretting that decision now to keep Danny from staying home by himself. It wasn't that he was untrustworthy… well maybe it was a little of that, but more so it was the fact that she was married to one of the city's top cops for many years now and they both knew far too well of all the dangers that lurked nearby at any given time.

The majority of their fears were allayed thirty minutes later as a smiling nurse wheeled a gurney with a now-sleepy little Jamison Reagan back from his test and reported that all was well. Mary was permitted to stay and stroke his hand as he was positioned on his side and further numbed up for a skillful and deft plastic surgeon who arrived to tend to the Police Commissioner's grandson personally and quickly left just eight tiny stitches behind to close up the cut before his mother was finally allowed to take him in her arms and snuggle with him on her lap in the big padded chair provided. Mary continued to rock while they cold packed for the swelling and waited for him to wake up and be discharged. It was soon apparent though that he would be enjoying his drugged state for an extended period of time as all they managed to pry out of him at first was a few content mumbled "Mommas" and a mention of ice cream and sirens before he fell back into a relaxed sleep once more and it was decided that Mary and Henry would remain and wait for the medicine to wear off while Frank caught a ride back to pick up his wife's car and deal with the second-most critical child crisis of the day.

Daniel Reagan knew in his still thudding and anxious heart that his father would be coming home for him soon.

###

"Daddy!" Erin and Joey cried in unison as they ran up to hug him while their father wearily made his way through the doorway at his parent's home. Now that all the adrenaline had worn off he found himself ready to sit down on a couch somewhere and put his feet up while he drank the neck off a new bottle of scotch, but first there were other important matters to tend to… namely one apparently missing oldest son.

"Where is he?" he asked coldly after pausing to reassure the other two children and his own worried mother that Jamie was in fact going to be just fine and would be home with Henry and Mary shortly… a wife that had made him promise on his youngest son's heart not to do anything rash as he dealt with the situation at home. It was a vow he was having a hard time remaining committed to as he observed the cleanup efforts underway to remove the traces of Jamie's accident from the floors and wall now that the 'crime scene' had been released as it were and their appointed patrol officer had been dismissed much to his great relief.

"Now, Francis," his mother tutted as she sought to calm him because she knew full well what was likely to take place when he got that look in his eye. "I've already seen to his punishment," she advised as her initial reaction to Danny's admission of what had happened saw him essentially dragged down the steps by his right ear and deposited in the corner of the kitchen to kneel on the tile floor. Despite all outward appearances when her Irish temper was on open display, Grandma Betty was not a full-on advocate for corporal punishment, at least not the hands-to-the-butt version, but rather a more passive 'suffer while you consider the consequences of what you've done' approach. No one ever wanted to kneel in shame on the hard floor in her kitchen, and it usually proved to be a far greater deterrent than the other option.

Today though, while her own ire had been satisfied, she sensed that Danny was likely to be on the receiving end of both approaches and had sent him out in the backyard to wait with the knowledge that his little brother was going to be fine after being advised that her own son was on his way home. She hoped to head off the ensuing confrontation if possible knowing that fear and shock was driving most of it.

"Where?" Frank repeated as that doggedly determined look remained, and his mother finally conceded to the point.

"Out back, dear," she offered finally with a frown and watched as he turned heel and left with the back door banging behind him. Once there, he discovered his oldest son was not cowering, but instead still kneeling down on now-bruised kneecaps while frantically pulling weeds out of the flowerbeds in an effort to show good faith to soften the blow before the axe fell. Danny stopped and sat back on his heels with a heavy swallow though when he noted his father's approach.

"I'm sorry, Dad… I didn't mean for it to happen!" was all that was offered at first before Frank took a deep breath and pursed his lips, counted to ten and prayed for the strength to hold his temper as things tended to just heat up between him and Danny whenever they got into it lately and Mary had begged him to take a different tack before he left her holding his injured child in her arms.

"Come over here and sit down," he directed with a heavy sigh as he pointed to the nearby park bench under the big shade tree. Danny complied immediately and left his gardening tools laying scattered about behind him. "Now I will ask you just one time, and I better hear the truth from the get go. What happened?"

"I was mad because Mom wouldn't let me stay at home by myself and I wanted to watch the baseball games," Danny admitted shamefully after a brief pause. "Mets and Phillies… today was the double-header," he added with a sniff to explain its importance. "Grandma said I couldn't put it on the TV if Jamie was there because she doesn't like what they do. She said I could watch later if he took a nap." A point well-taken by his father as he knew of his mother's near hatred for the game, at least the televised aspects of it.

"Go on."

"So the radio said that Gooden was pitching a no-hitter, and I wanted to see the end before Grandma was going to make Joey and me come outside and pull the weeds when Grandpa was done mowing," he continued. "I thought if Jamie drank a lot of milk for lunch and I played with him, he would get tired and fall asleep upstairs before that if I read him some stories."

Frank had to hand it to his son with a shake of the head and raised eyebrows, that plan was devious but not punishable on its merits.

"But I read him four stories and he still wouldn't go to sleep," Danny admitted before going quiet with great guilt over the next part. "I got mad at him and said something bad and he ran away to tell Grandma and I… chased him and he slipped with his socks when I tried to grab him and he fell down the steps! I'm sorry, Daddy! I really am! I was so scared when he hit his head at the bottom! I told him he was always ruining everything and that I hated him!" he sobbed into Frank's shoulder as that final ugly fact came out. "I didn't mean it! I didn't!"

Frank's thick mustache wrinkled as his anger quelled with the equal measure of anguish in his oldest son's voice and he put an arm around the boy and said a small prayer to thank his wife for her insistence he listen before reacting with Danny for once. There was obviously something else behind this that had likely driven what happened here today as well as the recent troubles the two had been having. Perhaps something positive could come out of this day after all.

"Why were you really upset today, Daniel?" he asked. "It wasn't with your little brother was it?"

"I wanted to go to the game with you," Danny admitted finally as he wiped some tears. "We always would before… sometimes at least, but now you have to work all the time and Jamie gets to do the stuff with you that he likes."

Frank carefully considered that revelation and the guilt on his own heart that it invoked. He had in fact allowed the job to take over things with the family lately as an appointment to that important post under his own father's tenure had garnered whispers of favoritism he vehemently wanted to deny by proving to everyone that he had indeed been the best man for the job. Maybe it had gotten out of hand lately though, and his wife and children certainly deserved more consideration than that, plus a bit of sibling jealousy was not wholly unexpected given the age differences between the two boys. They each needed different things from him at this time.

"Daniel, your brother is always happy whenever we do things as a family or he gets a small treat like an ice cream cone… he doesn't expect or demand special treatment although that will change as he gets older as it did for you. I understand why you were upset and I will try to make sure that you and I spend some more time doing the things you like together. It is only fair, but that doesn't excuse your behavior today, and there must be some punishment for that because Jamie was badly injured through no fault of his own... do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Danny admitted as he prepared himself mentally for a proper spanking not knowing of course that Frank had resolved himself to step away from that if at all possible.

"Do you know what karma is?" his father asked while Danny looked up in surprise and shook his head. "Some people believe it's the force created by a person's actions that causes good or bad things to happen to that person. Something very bad happened today because of your actions, didn't it?" he asked as his son nodded with down-turned eyes once more. "Now we must change it so something good can come of it. You will spend your Saturdays here helping your grandparents weed the gardens and mow the lawn around the house until everything is all caught up. Then you and I will have that afternoon together at the ballpark, okay? Do you understand?"

"I think so, sir," Danny admitted as he gratefully got up, eager to get started now right away. "But will that make Jamie feel better? Maybe him and Joey can come too?" he offered hopefully. "I still don't really get this karma stuff though," he admitted as he backed up. "I mean if I made something bad happen, shouldn't something bad happen to me? I don't have to get spanked?"

"No, son," Frank advised as he took his eye off the boy and glanced back at the house to see his mother frantically pounding and waving from the kitchen window. "Sometimes the universe has a funny way of just evening things… WATCH OUT!" he yelled as he caught on to what her distress was about just as Danny tripped backwards over the tools he had left lying about and landed butt first on the business end of a heavy old iron rake inciting a howl of pain far greater than anything his father's hands would have produced as the resultant bruised tailbone would see the boy either standing or sitting on an inflated doughnut cushion for the whole of the next week. The ironic situation was further magnified as Jamie arrived and stepped out onto the back deck from the kitchen to offer his big brother the rest of the special oversized double-scoop chocolate ice cream waffle cone that a still-shaken Grandpa Henry had stopped to buy him on the way home.

"That, son, is karma with sprinkles on top."


Hope you enjoyed and thanks to everyone who commented about that flashback in the original story. I know it's been mentioned on the show by Danny that his father was known to have a heavy hand with him for discipline… I believe the words were "war clubs," but I wanted to show a kinder, more gentle Francis Reagan as his oldest son had no real intent on harming Jamie and he already bore the wrath of Grandma Betty in this instance. Now it's off to write several other missing scenes that will post after the conclusion of "It's all in the name…"