Drake returns home to find that Jessie's bedroom furniture has been delivered. Launchpad is also there. Beth had called and asked him to help assemble it. She introduces Launchpad to Jessie.
"How's it going little lady?" he asks her, but she doesn't respond. Gosalyn greets Launchpad with a hug. Drake walks into the family room and greets him with a handshake and pat. They carry the furniture up the stairs and get started right away.
Launchpad doesn't waste any time and immediately asks Drake about the new addition to his family. "So, uh, you must've been pretty psyched to find out that you had a daughter"
"I'm feeling a lot of things about it. First I was angry…. with Nora for not telling me about her. Then amazement sunk in, and now I'm nervous and scared and terrified "
"You didn't say happy"
Drake looks up at Launchpad. "I'm happy about it. It's just hard to be happy when the kid doesn't even like me"
"Gwen did mention that" Launchpad says. "I wouldn't worry about it. Your kids are crazy about you. She'll come around"
"This is an interesting turn of events" Drake says as he thumbs through the huge packet of instructions. "Not too long ago I was the one giving you advice on parenting. Does this mean you no longer feel apprehensive about the triplets coming?"
"You know something? I'm not as nervous about it anymore. Gwen and I have started buying things for the babies and we've been talking to other parents that have triplets, so that's really been helping me feel less nervous and more excited. I can't wait to see them"
Drake smiles at Launchpad, and then frowns when he takes another look at the instructions. "How are we supposed to understand any of these instructions?" Drake asks.
Launchpad laughs at him, knowing that Drake has never been the handy type.
/
After dinner, Drake sends the kids upstairs because it is time for baths. Jake happily takes his bath first while Jessie sits in her room and waits. She looks around the room that now has her furniture and toys. She also has her cow print bedspread, which Gosalyn finds tacky. Drake comes into the room for Jessie, only to be stopped by Gosalyn.
"Dad, you have got to do something about this"
Drake rubs the back of his head. He is confused by Gosalyn's statement. "What are you talking about?"
Gosalyn points over at Jessie's bed. "I'm talking about that weird ugly bedspread of hers. It clashes with everything in this room"
"Gosalyn, you are being ridiculous, okay? That is Jessie's side of the room and she can decorate it however she wants."
Gosalyn crosses her arms and glares at her father, but he decides not to acknowledge it. He walks past her and approaches Jessie.
"Jessie, come on Sweet Pea, time for your bath"
Jessie stays seated on her bed and doesn't obey her father. Despite his friendly demeanor, she starts to feel nervous when he approaches her. He holds out his hand for her. "Come on"
"No" she says. She crosses her arms and looks away from him.
"No? Jessie this is not a request. Everyone needs to take a bath tonight. Now let's go." He takes her hand but she pulls it away from him. When he tries to pick her up she starts to kick and scream. He decides that he needs to be patient with her, so he sits on the bed and waits for her to calm down on her own. Abby notices that Drake is struggling so she tries to help.
"I can give her a bath" she says.
Drake considers Abby's offer and looks over at Jessie. "Will you let Abby give you a bath?"
Jessie nods her head, hops off the bed and leaves the room with Abby.
/
Drake joins Beth in the family room after reading to Jake and putting him to bed. Beth notices right away that things are not going well for her husband.
"What happened?" she asks him.
"Jessie wouldn't let me give her a bath. But she did allow Abby to help her"
"Jessie has taken a liking to Abby" Beth says.
Drake turns to face his wife. "Why do you think that is?"
"Probably because she knows she's not related to Abby. There're no expectations and no pressure."
"Do you think I'm pressuring her?" Drake asks.
"Not at all. The pressure is there whether we like it or not. The pressure to fit in and be liked by your own family is a pretty powerful thing." Beth tries to explain.
Abby walks down the stairs with towels in her hand for the laundry. Drake stops her to find out about Jessie. "Hey, is she okay?"
"She's fine" Abby says. "You know I love Christian to pieces, but I've always wanted a little sister. So anytime you need help with Jessie just say the word."
"I might have to take you up on that" Drake says. "She won't even let me give her a bath"
Abby shakes her head and chuckles. "I asked her about that. Her mother taught her that boys shouldn't see girls naked, she already knows that boys and girls are different."
"But I'm her father" Drake argues as he puts his hand on his chest.
Abby shrugs her shoulders and Beth chuckles. Drake lets Abby take the towels to the laundry and then walks back into the family room to sit with his wife. "I'm sorry Honey" she says to him.
"She is so different from Gosalyn and Jake. I mean, with Jake we still need to fight with him to keep his clothes on at school"
"And Gosalyn?" Beth asks.
"Gosalyn didn't know what it meant to be modest. Being naked didn't really bother her. She just hated being bathed. She hated soap."
"Well that's a problem. How did you deal with it?"
"I didn't give her a choice. But with Gosalyn I didn't have to worry about winning her over. I had already done that. It's different with Jessie." Drake frowns and roughly rubs his head with his fingers. "She doesn't like me and she doesn't trust me"
"Hey, look on the bright side. At least we don't have to worry about Jessie keeping her clothes on at school" Beth jokes. She smiles when she sees that Drake got a chuckle out of her comment. "You just need to give her time. Let her lean on Abby for a while until she gets used to us"
/
Gwen and Launchpad arrive at the house the next day to pick up Jake. They are taking him to the zoo. Drake opens the door for them and Jake charges at Launchpad. Launchpad picks him up and gives him a hug, earning them big smiles from Drake and Gwen. Gwen notices that Jessie is sitting in the family room playing with a doll and gets an idea.
"You know what? We should take Jessie too"
Drake looks over at Jessie and thinks about Gwen's offer, but he turns her down. He's afraid of how she will behave with them. He plans to have the girls watch her while he goes to work.
"I don't think it's a good idea" he tells them.
"Oh, come on Drake. We can't take one kid and not the other" Launchpad argues. He still has Jake in his arms.
Drake looks over at Jessie again. She isn't listening to their conversation. "What if she gives you a hard time or acts up? You won't have any fun"
"Drake, we have triplets coming in a few months. We can certainly use the practice. Besides, she's our niece, we should get to know her" Gwen says.
"Oh, alright. But don't say I didn't warn you." Drake looks over at his daughter. "Jessie, Sweet Pea could you come here please?"
Jessie remains seated on the floor and continues to play with her doll. She looks over at her father to see what he will do about it.
Drake is not amused, but he does his best to be patient. "Now please"
Jessie stands up and walks over to the ducks in the foyer, tightly clutching her doll in her arms. Drake explains to her that Launchpad and Gwen are taking Jake to the zoo, and he asks her if she'd like to go too. She innocently nods her head, much to the relief of Gwen and Launchpad. They are looking forward to spending time with her.
"Okay, I'll get their car seats for you and some juice boxes, and Jessie needs her inhaler" Drake instructs as he moves quickly to pack some things that the kids might need.
/
Drake arrives at work and greets his partner. She is aware of the new addition to his family since Drake has been off work for the past couple of days. Drake wants to get right to work, but Taylor wants to know about Jessie.
"So, how was it meeting your daughter?" she asks him.
Drake looks up at her and doesn't know what to say right away. The past week has been both amazing and difficult at the same time. He is happy about his daughter, but he's also frustrated. He's having a hard time getting her to open up and allow him to get close to her. He's having a hard time feeling like a father to her. He feels himself frowning and tries to smile and hide it. "It's ah….. it's been interesting"
"She doesn't like you, does she" Taylor sums it up, earning herself a glare from her partner. "Don't feel so bad. I didn't like you when I first met you either. But, you have this way of growing on people."
"Oh yeah? Does that mean I'm starting to grow on you?"
"Let's just say you're lucky you have kids" she says with a smile. "So she's six, which means she's going to be going to school with my son. Have you enrolled her yet?"
"Not yet" Drake says. "We have her working with a tutor to catch up to the other first graders"
The Captain joins them to fill them in on case that just came in. A man has reported his twenty four year old girlfriend missing. Drake and Taylor immediately leave to investigate the location of where she was last seen.
/
Abby and Tank are fooling around in his room. There is rock music playing so that his family doesn't hear them. Abby is lying down on his bed with him on top of her. She is holding his face as they kiss. Tank has his hand on her hip and slowly starts to slide it up her shirt, but to Abby's surprise he stops. She abruptly stops kissing him and stares into his eyes.
"Why'd you stop?" she asks him.
"What?"
Abby continues to look into his eyes and decides to stop asking questions. "Never mind" They start to make out again, but Abby starts to notice that he is kissing her differently. She stops him again. "Okay Muddlefoot, what's the deal?"
They both sit up and Tank gives her a confused look. "What are you talking about?"
"Something's different. Do you not want to do this?"
"Are you kidding?" Tank asks her sarcastically. "Have you seen you?"
Abby allows herself to chuckle, but then she turns serious. "Look I'm not turning all teenage girly girl on you, I just wanna make sure that this is something that you wanna do right now. Because if you don't…."
Tank interrupts her. "Alright, alright, you're right…. Abbs. There's something that I want to talk to you about." He uses his remote control to lower the volume on the music.
Abby gives him a funny look. "You're so serious. That's so non-Tank of you"
"Yeah, I know. And if you tell anyone I swear I'll deny it"
Both of them laugh, but Tank turns serious again. "Look, ah, I've never really done this before"
"You mean you've never had sex? I'm shocked" Abby jokes, but then thinks better of it when she sees that Tank is really trying to have a serious conversation. "I'm sorry. What haven't you done before?"
"You knew going into this that I've been with other girls, and you've been with other guys. The thing is, all the girls I've been with have had certain expectations of me. And you don't"
Abby considers this for a few seconds. This is the first time that they've had a serious conversation about anything, so she starts to feel uncomfortable. She looks down and starts to play with her fingers.
"Are you okay" he asks her after a few seconds of silence.
Abby looks up at him and gives him an awkward smile. "Yeah, I mean it's just funny that…. with all the guys I've been with, we didn't discuss it, we didn't talk about it, we didn't analyze it, we just did it. And with all the girls you've been with, they've wanted to talk to death about it until they were blue in the face. They were probably all worried that they didn't…. measure up or that you wouldn't call them the next day."
"You're not like that" Tank says.
Abby shrugs her shoulders. "No, I'm not. Is that a problem?"
Tank moves to sit closer to her and tries to assure her, but at the same time she inches away from him. "No, it's not a problem. But… hear me out okay? You and I started out on this physical attraction we had for one another. We started making out, we started having sex, and it's been freak'n fantastic. But maybe now I want more from you."
Abby glares at Tank. She really doesn't know where he is going with this. "What exactly do you want?"
"I wanna get to know you. The you that you hide from the rest of the world."
Abby doesn't respond. She and Tank have had a good thing going, but he had to go and spoil it by turning all "high school girl" on her and talk about their relationship.
/
Drake and Taylor arrive at the missing woman's apartment. Her name is Molly Bristle. They are interviewing her landlord.
"Does anyone ever come by the apartment to visit her" Drake asks him
"No, Molly pretty much keeps to herself. I never see her bring anyone up here"
Taylor looks around the apartment to see if she can find any clues as to where Molly could have gone.
Drake continues to question the landlord. "Do you know her well? Well enough to say if she'd have a reason to leave on her own?"
"She's lived here for four years. Always pays her rent on time, very friendly with the neighbors and their kids. But other than that we don't hear a peep out of her." The landlord is very confident in his answers, so Drake and Taylor don't cast any suspicion. They leave with a warning that they might return with more questions.
/
Drake and Taylor discuss their findings as they walk back to the patrol car.
"Okay so far there is no family in the picture, no ex-boyfriends…" Drake says
"Just her current boyfriend that reported her missing" Taylor adds.
"We know she's lived here for four years, but where was she before that?"
Taylor opens her car door. "It's almost as if she appeared out of thin air four years ago…"
"What, after ending a life somewhere else?" Drake asks. "You thinking witness protection, or a girl just trying to start her life over?"
"I don't know, I do know that it's getting late and we're out of leads, so we should pick this up tomorrow." Drake starts the car and drives them back to the stationhouse. He'd like to get home to his family and make sure the kids did okay at the zoo.
/
When Drake arrives home, Gwen and Launchpad are already there. They are sitting in the family room with Beth drinking tea and coffee. Drake joins them and greets his wife with a kiss.
"So, how was the zoo?" he asks them.
Launchpad and Gwen look at each other and express guilty smiles, which causes Drake to dread his next question.
"Oh no, what happened?"
"Nothing happened. We had a good time" Gwen says as she rubs her pregnancy belly.
But Drake isn't fooled. "Alright, please tell me the truth. Did the kids behave for you? Or more to the point, did Jessie behave for you?"
Gwen expresses a guilty grin again. She knows that she needs to tell him the truth. "Ah, look I don't want to get her in trouble"
"It's alright, just tell me what happened"
Gwen takes a breath and lets it out. "Okay. She just wasn't obedient. You know, anytime we told her to do something she'd do the complete opposite"
"Yeah, like when we told her we had to keep walking she didn't want to" Launchpad adds.
"Or when I told her to hold my hand she wouldn't. She also wouldn't eat her dinner"
Drake sighs and rubs his eyes. "I'm so sorry you guys, but I did warn you remember?"
"Yeah we know" Gwen says as she takes Launchpad's hand. "Look we'd like to take her and Jake out again sometime when things settle down. I hope that's okay"
Drake and Beth look at each other. Both of them are surprised. "Yeah, sure" Drake says. "Thank you for taking them both today"
"You're welcome. We should get going" Gwen says. The adults stand and say their goodbyes.
/
A few hours later, Drake sits in the family room and starts reading through some paper work. Gosalyn, Abby and Jessie walk into the room. Jessie is holding Abby's hand.
"Drake, Jessie would like some ice cream" Abby says. Since Jessie doesn't talk to Drake yet she depends a lot on Abby to do the talking for her. Drake is not happy about that, or about Jessie's behavior at the zoo earlier in the day.
"No, no ice cream" he says. He goes back to reading the paperwork.
Abby looks down at Jessie. "Sorry kid, no ice cream"
"But I want ice cream" Jessie wines.
Drake looks over at his daughter. "Jessie Dear, I am not happy about your behavior at the zoo today. You didn't listen to Aunt Gwen or Uncle Launchpad, and you didn't eat your dinner. So you cannot have ice cream. Not tonight"
Jessie pouts and stomps back to her room. On some level Drake gets a kick out of it. As disrespectful as it is, he finds it kind of cute.
"Wow, you're gonna pay for that one" Abby says jokingly.
"As if I'm not paying for it already. I hate saying no, but I can't reward her for bad behavior"
"I'll go make sure she brushes her teeth and gets to bed" Abby says. She rushes off after Jessie.
Gosalyn sits and joins her father. "Hey kiddo, did you finish your term paper?"
"Yep, it's all typed up and ready for tomorrow" she says proudly.
"Great job. I'm really proud of you for turning things around with your school work" he says as he pats her on the back.
"Thanks Dad"
/
Abby walks into her bedroom to find Jessie sitting on her bed crying. Gosalyn also walks into the room a few minutes later and grimaces. She doesn't understand why Abby is being so kind to Jessie.
"Jessie, why are you crying" Abby calmly asks her.
Jessie wipes her tears as they are replaced by more tears. "He's so mean. I hate him"
"Don't say that!" Gosalyn shouts.
Abby is shocked. She looks over at Gosalyn with wide eyes. "Gosalyn"
"I mean it" Gosalyn says as she makes her way over to Jessie's bed. "Do not say bad things about our father. He is the best father in the world and you are darn lucky to have him."
Gosalyn waves her finger angrily as she scolds Jessie. Abby is stunned. She's not sure where this is coming from. "Gosalyn chill out. She's just upset" Abby says to her.
"I don't care. She has no idea how lucky she is." She turns her attention back to Jessie and continues to yell at her. "Dad lives for his kids and he would die for his kids. He's the kind of father that will always have your back no matter what, even if he doesn't agree with you. It's not his fault that you're too bratty to see it"
Abby pulls her friend away. "Okay, that's enough. Why don't you go somewhere else for a while and let me handle this?"
"You're kicking me out?"
"That's right" Abby says as she closes their bedroom door on Gosalyn. She crosses her arms and glares at the door.
/
The next morning, Drake walks into the kitchen and greets Beth with a morning kiss. She is washing dishes and Jake is eating breakfast. Beth is surprised to see that Drake is wearing his bathrobe. He is usually dressed for work when he comes into the kitchen.
"Honey, why aren't you dressed? You're gonna be late" she asks him. Drake holds up two of his shirts to show his wife. They are each cut at the bottom. Beth takes a break from washing dishes and looks over at them. "Oh my"
"Every single shirt in my closet has been attacked by scissors"
"Jake, did you do this?" Beth asks him.
"Nope"
"Jake Mallard don't lie to me" Beth reprimands. Drake is steamed but he is pretty sure that his son didn't do this.
"Beth, I don't think it was Jake" he says. They look over at the door where Abby and Jessie are now standing. Drake walks over to Jessie and confronts her about the shirts.
"Did you do this?" he asks her. But she doesn't answer him. Abby looks down at Jessie. She's not sure if she should say something. Drake gets impatient and brings himself down to Jessie's level. He roughly grabs her arms. "Look at me. Did you cut up my clothes?"
Jessie stares at Drake like a deer in the headlights. She still doesn't say anything, which makes Drake even angrier. "Go to your room" he orders. She does what he says and leaves the room. Nobody says anything. Drake stands up and walks over to stand next to his wife again. She rubs his back in an effort to calm him down. This works for a few seconds, until Gosalyn storms into the kitchen and shows him what is left of term paper. She immediately blames Jake.
"Dad! Jake cut up my term paper" she shouts.
"Nah uh" Jake says from his booster seat. Gosalyn glares at him until Drake explains to her that Jake didn't do it.
"Dad, look at this! It's ruined. All that work I put into it and its gone"
"Honey calm down, now this is the typed up version right? Do you still have the hand written version?" Drake asks her.
"Of course not! Why would I need that?"
"Did you save it to your computer?" Beth tries to help. But Gosalyn yells at her too.
"No, I typed it up on the school computer so I could print it. They don't let you save your work on those computers"
"Gos, I'm sorry. Look, when I come home from work I will help you retype it, okay? We'll work on it until it is all finished. And…. I'll pick up some discs on the way home so you can save it and print it out at school." Drake tries to assure her, and it starts to work. She is still upset but she lowers her tone.
"Dad, it's due today. What am I supposed to tell Mr Featherman, that my head case of a sister ate my homework?"
"Gos, do not say that about Jessie, alright? I know you're upset but you need to let me handle this. I will call Mr Featherman today and explain to him what happened."
"And Jessie?" Gosalyn asks. She puts her hands on her hips and waits for her father to answer.
"I will deal with her. Just eat your breakfast and make sure you are on time for school." Drake starts to leave the kitchen but Beth stops him. She shows him a shirt that wasn't cut up. It was part of a load of laundry from the previous night. He takes the shirt from her and gently kisses her on the cheek.
/
After getting dressed and settling down, Drake walks into the girls' room to talk to Jessie. She is sitting on her bed with her arms wrapped around her legs. He calmly sits on her bed and waits for her to acknowledge him.
"You know, I've been trying to figure out the appropriate punishment for you and I think I came up with a pretty good one" he starts. He shows her the pair of scissors that she used to cut up his clothes and Gosalyn's term paper. "Since you cut up all of my clothes and Gosalyn's term paper, maybe I should cut off your braids"
Drake would never do such a thing, but Jessie takes him seriously and panics. She throws a fit, then grabs her blankets and hides underneath of them. Drake waits a few seconds before removing the blankets that are covering her head. She grabs her braids and squeezes her eyes shut.
"Relax, I'm not gonna do it" he says calmly. "But I am going to punish you. For the rest of the day you are going to stay in here and think about what you did, and how you felt just now when I told you I would cut off your braids" Drake moves a foot closer to her and continues to talk to her. "It is unacceptable for you to touch and ruin other people's things. And if you do it again, you will be in even bigger trouble. Do you understand me?"
Drake waits for her to answer, but she doesn't. He puts his hand under her beak and makes her look at him. "Answer me please"
Jessie nods her head, and Drake decides that that's probably the only response he is going to get from her. He leaves the room and continues to get ready for work.
/
Abby takes a seat across from Gosalyn in the cafeteria during their lunch period. Gosalyn notices that she hasn't said a lot and asks her about it.
"What's up with you?"
Abby looks up at Gosalyn and pauses. "What do you mean?"
"Well, let's see, you and Tank barely said two words to each other on the way to school today, and you aren't saying much now" Gosalyn explains.
Abby plays dumb and laughs it off. "It's nothing. Everything's fine"
"Oh give me a break" Gosalyn says. "You are a terrible liar. Haven't I taught you anything?"
Abby plays with her food and considers telling Gosalyn what is on her mind. Her thoughts are interrupted and she flinches when Gosalyn calls her name. "Abby"
"Okay. Its relationship stuff so I figured you didn't want to hear about it"
"Trouble in paradise?" Gosalyn asks.
"Tank's starting to ask questions. You know the personal stuff. He said he wanted to know the real me, the me that I hide from the rest of the world"
Gosalyn is surprised. "Really? That's so non-Tank of him"
"I know" Abby agrees. "So I froze, I didn't know what to say. Things have been so easy with Tank without having to label or define what we are, but now…."
"Now he's the one asking you where things are going" Gosalyn interrupts.
"He didn't put it that way. He just wants us to know each other on a more personal level, and have more than just the sex and making out"
Gosalyn grimaces. She prefers not to think about her best friend and her neighbor having a sexual relationship. Despite her current single status she tries to offer her friend advice. "Maybe you should try it, you know? If Tank cares enough to want to get to know you, then you should throw him a bone"
"You mean, tell him about my Mom and Stepfather?"
Gosalyn nods. "That's a start"
Abby grows nervous and looks down and away from Gosalyn. The Mallards are the only ones that know what really happened last year, and Abby is afraid of anyone else knowing. She doesn't want anyone at school to know what she's been through.
Gosalyn continues to push her friend. "Look, you don't have to do this. But if you and Tank want to get to know each other on a more personal level, you're gonna have to talk about the hard stuff"
/
Drake is sitting at his desk at the station house in front of his laptop. He logs on and starts to skype with Jessie's mother, Nora. He shows her two of his shirts that Jessie took scissors to.
"Oh my" she says and tries to avoid giggling, but she can't help it.
"You think this is funny. That's just great, go ahead, laugh it up" Drake says.
Nora finishes her giggling. "I'm sorry Drake. But I told you before, you can't let her get away with stuff. Especially right now because she's gonna test you"
Drake frowns and rubs his head hard. "Well what would you suggest I do? Other than lock her in her room all day and monitor her every time she has access to scissors."
"I know you think she's as fragile as glass because she has a heart condition, but you can't think of her that way. She needs discipline. Don't be afraid to be hard on her."
Drake falls silent and thinks about Nora's words. They end their conversation and Drake closes his laptop. Taylor joins him with a file containing more documentation on the case they are working on.
"Turns out our ever so helpful landlord has a police record and a history of restraining orders" Taylor shares as she thumbs through the file. She gives some of the sheets to Drake so that he could read them.
"Is that right?" he says.
"I say we play it cool, let him be cooperative, make him feel like he's helping us with the case…." Taylor says
"All the while we'll be suspecting him of being involved and hope that he slips up" Drake finishes her sentence. As he reads through some of the paperwork he is temporarily able to shift his thoughts from his problems with Jessie to the case he is working on with his partner.
/
Drake arrives home and is greeted by his wife with a kiss. She had spent the day at home with Jessie since Drake had to work. She will be working a few night shifts until Jessie can go to school. Drake is also greeted by Jake, who is clinging to his leg, waiting for his father to pick up his foot and try to walk. Drake plays along and tries to walk while Jake holds on. He starts to laugh after three steps and then he lets go. Drake picks him up and hugs him. He then tickles him until he gets Jake to laugh out loud. He puts him down and asks his wife about Jessie.
"So how did it go today? Any more wardrobe or homework mishaps?" he asks her.
"No, I couldn't find anything else that she attacked with scissors. I checked on her a bunch of times and she worked with the tutor for a few hours in the kitchen."
For a moment Drake is satisfied, but he quickly becomes suspicious. He gives his wife another kiss and walks upstairs.
/
Drake arrives in the girls' room to find a mess. Jessie had taken all of her things, including her toys, clothes and bedspread and put them in a big pile near the closet in their room. In a way, she obeyed her father by not touching anyone else's things. But he didn't say anything about Jessie touching her own things. He immediately becomes angry and raises his voice.
"Jessie, what have you done? Is this everything you own?" Drake points to the pile and angrily looks at his daughter. She nods her head and looks over at the pile of her things. "Young lady, we have rules in this house. Everyone has to keep their things in order. That means clothes in bureau drawers, toys in the closet and the bedspread and pillows on the bed. Not in the middle of the floor." Jessie doesn't say anything. She has her hands behind her back and she is looking innocently at Drake. He sees the look on her face and immediately softens. "Look, I need to go help Gosalyn re-type her term paper. You know, the one that you cut up with scissors. So I'm going to go downstairs, and in one hour I'm going to come back and all of this stuff had better be put back. Understand?"
Jessie waits a few seconds, and with each passing second Drake is growing more angry and impatient. She finally nods her head to let him know that she understands. Drake continues to look at her. He's not confident that she will put everything back, but he knows that he needs to give her a chance. He leaves the room to join Gosalyn in the kitchen.
/
Drake and Gosalyn are working on her term paper in the kitchen while Beth prepares dinner. Drake has a million things on his mind but does his best to focus on helping his daughter. He shows her the once cut up pages that he had a forensics expert piece back together for him. Gosalyn is ecstatic and tightly hugs him around his neck. They still have to retype the whole paper, but now she can at least use the original paper as a reference. She doesn't have to start from scratch. Drake is relieved too, from not having to stay up all hours of the night working on homework. He helps her by reading lines from the paper while she types. As he reads, she decides to reword and restructure the paper to make it even better.
"Hey, something good has to come out of this, right?" she asks him.
Drake looks up at Beth and she smiles. They are both very proud of Gosalyn for applying herself when it comes to her school work. Drake temporarily thinks back a few years to a time when things were much different when he tried to help her with homework. She was lazy and uncooperative. She often tried to find short cuts to get the work done, but Drake wanted her to get more out of learning and made her do her homework properly. His thoughts are interrupted when Gosalyn tells him to read the next line of her paper to her.
/
An hour later, Drake walks in the girls' room and is disappointed to see that Jessie hasn't put everything back. In fact, she made the mess even worse by opening several board games and spreading the pieces from each game throughout the pile of stuff that she had created earlier. She is standing next to the pile as Drake approaches her.
"Jessie Joy, I thought I'd told you to put everything back. Now what have you been doing up here?" he asks her. He stands next to her and looks down at the pile of stuff. He reaches down and picks up a card from one of the games and looks at it with frustration. "Well, this is obviously the opposite of what I told you to do. I told you that you had one hour to put all of this stuff away. Instead you've made an even bigger mess"
He looks at her again and she looks down and away from him. He softens and decides to change his approach with her. "Tell you what. I'm going to give you another chance. You have one more hour to put all of this stuff away. And if you don't, you will be in serious trouble"
Drake waits for Jessie to respond. She doesn't say anything to him. Instead, she takes another board game from the closet and pours the pieces throughout the pile. Drake sighs and calmly positions her under his arm. He smacks her bottom and surprises himself for not feeling guilty about it. He lets go of her after delivering four smacks and is even more surprised to not get a reaction out of her. She doesn't cry, and she doesn't pout. She has a stone cold expression. He lowers himself to her level and gently grabs her arms. He then puts his beak up against hers so that she has no choice but to look at him. "Listen, when I tell you to do something, you do it. Do you understand me? Clean this up, right now!"
He leaves the room and walks downstairs, failing to see Abby standing on the other side of the bedroom door. She walks into the room and sees Jessie standing next to the pile of stuff. She walks over to her and hugs her, just as Jessie starts to cry.
/
Drake walks back into the kitchen and sits down next to Gosalyn. She puts the finishing touches on her paper and celebrates her accomplishment. Drake is glad to see Gosalyn happy and allows himself to smile. She gives him another hug which nearly knocks him over.
"Thanks Dad! This is probably the best paper I've ever written. I can't believe I'm even saying this, but maybe it's a good thing that Jessie cut up the first one"
"You're joking, right?" Drake asks
"Not at all. But don't you dare tell her I said that" Gosalyn says as she raises her finger at him.
Drake holds up his hands to show surrender. "She won't hear it from me"
Gosalyn saves her work to a disc and takes it to Honker's house so she can print it, leaving Drake and Beth alone to discuss Jessie. Beth takes a break from cooking dinner and sits next to him.
"Is everything alright?" she asks him.
"Not really. Jessie won't listen to a word I say. I feel like all I do is yell and punish, it doesn't leave much room for bonding" Drake pouts and plays with his hands while Beth rubs his shoulders.
"You should find something that the two of you can do together. Something she likes"
"She likes horseback riding, but there aren't any farms around here"
"What else does she like?" Beth asks.
"I don't know. And if I ask her I know she won't answer me. It's like talking to a wall sometimes. She prefers to pretend that I don't exist."
Beth's cell phone rings and she looks at the caller ID. "It's Abby….. hello?" Drake watches as Beth talks to Abby. She rushes over to the kitchen counter and quickly rummages through the top drawer, which causes Drake to worry. He rushes over to his wife to find out what is going on. She ends the call with Abby and pulls Jessie's back-up inhaler out of the drawer. Drake looks at his wife wide eyed. "Jessie needs her inhaler" she says to him. The adults rush out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
/
Drake and Beth rush into the girls' room to find Jessie sitting up with her back against the bureau and Abby sitting in front of her. She can't breathe. Beth quickly takes Abby's spot on the floor and helps Jessie with her inhaler. Drake and Abby watch as she encourages Jessie to breathe.
"That's it, nice and easy" she says to her.
Drake and Abby are relieved when they see that Jessie is going to be okay, but then she starts to wheeze again. Beth thinks that Jessie is troubled by Drake's presence so she tells him and Abby to wait in the hall. Drake doesn't want to leave but Beth insists.
"She's going to be fine, okay? She just needs some space" she says to them
Abby takes Drake's arm and pulls him out into the hallway. While in the hall he proceeds to blame himself for Jessie's asthma attack.
"This is all my fault" he says as he grabs his beak.
Abby is confused by this and gives him a look. "What, it's your fault that Jessie had an asthma attack?"
"I was too hard on her" he says. "All because of a stupid mess. I should have been more understanding. I should have just helped her clean it up. Instead I had to go and…"
Drake pauses and Abby waits for him to finish his sentence. When he doesn't, she finishes it for him. "smack her?"
Drake looks at Abby and feels guilty. "She told you about that huh?"
Abby shrugs her shoulders. She doesn't think what Drake did is a big deal. "She cried about it. But then she got over it and we started to put things back. We even tried to make a game of it. But then I made her sit down when I noticed that she was having trouble breathing"
"You don't think that I caused her asthma attack?" Drake asks. Although he will still blame himself regardless of what Abby says.
"I think she had an asthma attack because she has asthma, not because you punished her"
Beth peaks her head out and tells Abby that Jessie is asking for her. Abby walks into the room and sits with Jessie while Drake and Beth watch. Beth puts her arms around Drake and he puts and arm around her.
"Is she okay?" he asks her
"She's fine" Beth says. "She couldn't find her inhaler because she threw it in that pile of stuff. I told her that we need to be more careful about where we keep it, and make sure that she can find it whenever she needs it."
They watch as Abby starts to read a book to Jessie.
"Thank you for helping her" Drake says to Beth.
Beth can sense that Drake has hurt feelings about not being the one to help Jessie. "No problem. You know I'm sure this will happen often with her, since her asthma is so severe. And I'm sure someday she will depend on you to be the one to keep her calm" Drake allows himself to grin. He kisses his wife's head and holds her tighter.