It was a quiet ride home from Pine Street School after Eddie picked up her four year old daughter. Grace was sitting in the backseat with a frown and angry tears streaming down her face. It broke Eddie's heart but she knew that she needed to hold strong.
"Grace," Eddie said gently, glancing at her daughter in the rear view mirror. "Talk to me, honey."
The little girl only responded with a small shake of her head before closing her eyes and laying back against the seat.
"Oh boy, Reagan," Eddie muttered to herself, thinking about her husband who had been stuck in meetings all day. "I really wish you were here right now.
Eddie was at work when she got the phone call from her daughter's school. Grace had gotten into a fight with a boy in her class and ended up punching him hard in the shoulder, leaving an actual bruise. It was quite a surprise for Eddie, not believing that her sweet natured daughter would ever do something like that. But, the four year old finally admitted to it as they sat in the principal's office, saying very few words before clamming up and not saying anything else. The principal requested for Eddie to take Grace home and that she would be allowed back at school the next week with possible consequences after they had a discussion with the little boy and his parents.
After picking up Conor from daycare, the trio made it home to find Jamie waiting for them. He only knew from what Eddie had texted him earlier about an incident at Grace's school but didn't know the extent of it until the four year old completely ignored him as she walked through the door and went straight into her bedroom.
Jamie frowned but did manage a small smile as Conor immediately went into his outstretched arms for a cuddle.
"Hi buddy," he said affectionately. Then, he kissed his son's cheek before turning to his wife, "That's… that's so not her. At all. What the hell happened?"
"Grace hit a kid in the shoulder and gave him a bruise. She even admitted to doing it."
Jamie's eyes widened, "What? Why would she do that?"
"What do you think I've been trying to find out for the last hour? She's not talking."
He let out a breath, "Oh damn."
Eddie nodded, "Yep. What do we do?"
He let out a sigh, "Give her some time to cool off to start. Then, I'll go in and talk to her. I'll give you the go ahead to come in after I make some headway."
Jamie and Eddie busied themselves with Conor and making dinner. They occasionally peeked in on Grace, who laid on her bed facing the wall. Finally, Jamie ventured in after awhile, leaving Eddie in the kitchen feeding Conor.
"Grace," Jamie called out softly. He walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge. He peeked over at her face to see that she was wide awake, wiping at her runny nose. He could tell that she had been crying, which hurt him to see.
"Okay, none of that now," he said, pulling her up and sliding her onto his lap when her tears started up again. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "What happened, sweetheart? You can tell Daddy. I won't get mad or upset at you."
She shook her head and cried into his chest. He held her tightly and gently rocked her from side to side, which seemed to calm her slightly. After a few minutes, she lifted her head to look at him.
"He was mean to me, Daddy," she finally revealed.
A feeling of protectiveness rose through Jamie as he tightened his arms around his daughter. He knew that bullies were an encounter that most kids would experience growing up but he couldn't help but wish that it wasn't the case for his own children.
"How was he mean to you, Grace?" he asked.
"He always takes my toys away from me and pushed me down the other day," she replied. "He said that he will hit me if I tell so I didn't."
"Well that's not very nice," Jamie said with a frown, pressing a comforting kiss to the side of her head. "I'm sorry he did that to you, sweetheart. But no matter what that boy said, you should've told an adult."
Grace shook her head, "I didn't want him to hit me."
"If you tell an adult, it'll stop him from hitting you first," Jamie replied. "But what made you hit him today?"
"He said police officers like you and Mama are dumb," she said. "He said fire fighters like his Daddy are better. Then, he tried to push me again so I hit him."
Jamie inwardly smiled at his daughter defending her family's honor. Pop, Dad, and Danny are going to get a kick out of this, he thought to himself.
"Okay Grace," Jamie responded. "It wasn't very nice of that boy to do what he's been doing to you. That's bullying. You should never do that to anyone. You always need to treat people like you'd want to be treated."
"I know, Daddy."
"At the same time, you shouldn't have hit him. You could've really hurt him. Violence is never the answer. The best thing to do in that situation is to tell an adult. Got it?"
"I got it," she sighed, leaning against his chest.
"Eddie," he called out. "Come in here."
Eddie promptly walked in with Conor at her side and joined them on the bed. Grace crawled onto her lap while Conor went to Jamie.
"Tell Mama what you told me, Grace," Jamie said to his daughter.
The four year old took a deep breath before recalling everything she told her father. Outwardly, Eddie repeated and agreed with Jamie's sentiments on what she should've done and that she probably shouldn't have resorted to hitting him. But, she did feel that her daughter was right in trying to defend herself from the boy.
"I always tried to be nice to him," Grace insisted with a sigh. "Why do people have to be mean?"
Eddie frowned and pressed a kiss to the side of her head, "I wish I knew, sweetie. I wish I knew."
"Let's go eat some dinner," Jamie said, deciding to drop the subject for now. He had some feelings he wanted to share but knew it wouldn't be right in front of his children.
Later, after getting Grace and Conor to bed, Jamie and Eddie sat on the couch to unwind.
"What a day, huh?" Jamie said to his wife, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
"Tell me about it," she responded. "I almost didn't want to believe it when the principal told me. Grace is such a sweetheart. I knew that the kid had to do something to her to get her to react that way."
"Despite our feelings, it wasn't right for her to hit him," Jamie tried to reason, even though he felt like his daughter was justified in her actions.
Eddie nodded in agreement as Jamie spoke up again. "You know, that's her Serbian temper flaring up right there," he joked. "I can imagine a mini Janko in Pre-K doing that too."
Eddie laughed and shoved his shoulder, "Shut up! But I did a little worse than that. I kicked him..."
Jamie eyed her, "Where?"
"It's not my proudest moment, okay? But he got what he deserved."
His eyes widened, "Eddie!" Then, he shook his head. "Maybe it's a good thing that I talked to her first. If she would've told you, you would've marched up there, guns blazing."
"I would've," she admitted. She sat in thought for a moment before continuing. "He shouldn't have started it with pushing her."
Jamie nodded, "Nope, he shouldn't have."
"And Grace was right in defending herself but wrong for hitting him," she said.
"That's right."
"Even though I think the kid got what he deserved," she trailed off.
Jamie gave her a look, "Eddie..."
"What? Don't tell that you don't feel the same way. That kid had been messing with her for awhile, Jamie. It was only a matter of time before he set her off.
"I know that and... he did get what he deserved but we have to be the example, Ed," he replied. "She can't go around hitting everyone when they mess with her."
"I know that," she responded. "But I hate that she had to resort to doing that to get him to stop."
"Me too. But at least he knows that Grace Reagan is not a girl to mess with," Jamie said proudly.
Eddie smiled, "That's right."
"My goddaughter was absolutely right in this situation!" Danny exclaimed after Jamie told him, Frank, and Henry about the events of the week. "The kid had been messing with her. You push someone too much, they'll go off. She should've hit him harder to make him really feel it."
"She gave him a bruise," Jamie pointed out with a slight chuckle at his reaction.
"Attagirl!" Danny responded with a wide grin. "She learned well."
Jamie shook his head. The Reagan men reacted just as he'd expected. They were all upset at the situation and were ready to march up to the school with Danny and Henry at the lead. They were very overprotective of their little sweetheart and hated that someone had been bullying her.
"She's not going to get in trouble, is she?" Henry asked. "Tell me that the little boy got suspended too!"
"She didn't get suspended, Pop," Jamie corrected. "They just wanted her to have a day away from school to calm down. And no, I don't know if they did the same with the kid. But we go in tomorrow morning to see if she gets a punishment, which she likely will."
"I call BS on that!" Danny replied. "If I have to go up to that school..."
"No one is going anywhere," Frank finally chimed in. "Jamie and Eddie are the parents, they can handle it. The boy shouldn't have messed with her in the first place but Grace shouldn't have hit him. Whatever punishment she gets, she'll take it and move on."
"Thank you dad," Jamie said. "And she's ready if they give her a punishment. She knows that she shouldn't have hit him." Then, there was a silence in the conversation before Jamie spoke up again with a smirk. "You want to know what the kicker is?"
"What?" Henry answered for them.
"The kid's dad is a firefighter. Grace told us he said that police officers are dumb and firefighters like his dad are better. Then, he tried to push her again so she finally hit him."
"That's my niece!" Danny said proudly. "Defending her family as she should from those smoke eaters!"
"That's right!" Henry added.
Frank could only bear a wide smile and a shake of his head as he tried to suppress a chuckle.
The next morning, the three older Reagan men's phones sounded with a phone call from Jamie.
"Can everyone hear me?" he asked, looking down at his phone again to make sure he had everyone.
"Loud and clear," Frank said.
"I hear you," Henry added.
"What did they tell her?" Danny asked impatiently.
"Two afternoons of detention," he announced with a sigh, looking over at his slightly emotional daughter who was being consoled by his wife. "And she has to apologize to the kid. She can't come back to school until she does the detention. She took it well in there but started to cry when we came out of the office."
He pulled his phone away from his ear with the sudden uproar on the line. "Are you guys done?" he said after a moment.
"No!" Danny exclaimed. "She shouldn't get in trouble for this! She was defending herself."
"Danny, it's okay," Jamie assured. "And she's okay. She accepted it and just wants to get the detention done."
"They have detention for pre-schoolers?" Frank asked.
"Apparently," he chuckled. "But the kid actually has two weeks of it. Turns out that he's been bullying kids for awhile after his parents got it out of him. He has to apologize to Grace and to the whole class."
"He better for messing with Grace!" Henry replied.
Danny and Henry didn't seem to be letting up so Jamie decided to hand the phone to Grace, who was a bit more settled now to calm her overprotective godfather and great grandfather. It truly didn't take much for them to be taken with her little girl charms and have them like putty in her hands.
She handed the phone back to her father after a few minutes before taking her mother's hand as they stood in the hallway. Jamie quickly ended the call before leading his family out the front door of the school.
"Are you okay, honey?" Jamie asked his daughter, running a hand over the top of her head.
"Mhmm," she nodded. "I'm okay."
"You were a brave girl in there, sweetheart," Eddie said. "You took your punishment with your head held high. I'm very proud of you."
Grace smiled up at her mother and leaned against her as they walked.
"After all of this, what did you learn?" Jamie continued. "If someone is bullying you, what do you do?"
"Tell an adult," she recalled from the conversations she'd had with her parents over the last few days. "And if they try to push me or hit me, it's better to walk away instead of hitting them."
"That's right," he responded. "Good girl, Grace. Now, who wants pancakes from Mr. Fratelli's diner?"
Grace hopped up and down excitedly, "Me!"
Jamie smile down at the four year old, "Okay, let's go."
The trio walked hand in hand down the sidewalk as they made their way over to the diner. As their daughter chatted in between them happily, they gave each other a knowing look with a smile.
Another day in parenthood done.
