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“Hey, Gracie,” Steve called out as Grace came out of the junior high school. He moved to give her a hug, but she brushed past him and got into the truck without a look in his direction.
‘Ookay,’ Steve thought as he moved around to the driver’s side, ‘this ride is going to be interesting.’
Grace still hadn’t said anything, and they were already making good time down the Pali highway, so Steve decided to be the adult and try and start a conversation with his thirteen year old. “So, how was school?”
“Fine.”
Steve should have known that that was the proverbial parent question, and since the beginning of time the response has always been fine or okay, or a shrug of the shoulders. ‘How was school today’ has never been a lead in to an actual conversation, and Steve was mentally slapping himself for not coming up with a better opening question.
“What’s got you in a bad mood?” Yeah, tact, not so much.
“Steve, just I hate that question. What makes you think I’m in a bad mood? I wasn’t, not until you asked.”
“Grace, I’m sorry, it’s just that in the many years I’ve known you I’ve grown to learn that you are indeed your father’s daughter and therefore tend to be rather loquacious. Therefore, when you aren’t talkative, I worry. And now I am even more concerned that you are in fact upset about something.”
Grace didn’t say anything, just huffed and continued to look out the window. Steve was at a loss; Grace very rarely came home in such a bad mood. But, this wasn’t the first time and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, especially because she had been coming home in a bad mood more and more often lately, so Steve decided to just ride out the storm until it passed. At least, that was his plan until he noticed something was off about Grace.
Danny and he had had the lucky privilege of having Grace stay with them for the week because Rachel and Stan were traveling on the mainland. It was always a great time when Grace was able to stay over for longer than her allotted weekends; the girls didn’t stop talking the entire week, and it felt good to have their whole family under one roof.
Steve had done drop off that morning because Danny had to get ready for court. Grace and Avery went to a private school that had uniforms, but they did have a few things to choose from when they got dressed in the morning. Girls were allowed to wear uniform skirts or uniform pants with their uniform polo shirts. Grace had both skirts and pants to choose from, but she almost always chose a skirt, which was what she had on this morning when Steve dropped them off.
But, Steve realized, Grace wasn’t wearing a skirt anymore. Instead, she was wearing a pair of uniform pants that were clearly two sizes too big for her small frame.
“Uh, Grace, why are you wearing different clothes than you were this morning?”
“I really don’t want to talk about it,” Grace replied in a clipped tone, clearly signaling to Steve to back the hell off because she did not want to discuss it.
Well at least Steve was beginning to piece together the puzzle of her bad mood; it obviously had something to do with her change in outfit.
“Well where is your skirt?”
“In my backpack. What part of ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ did you not understand exactly?”
And, yeah, Grace had been in a piss poor mood lately, but this snarky attitude was a far cry from her normal behavior, even her normal bad mood behavior. And Steve wasn’t going to stand by and let her talk this way, no matter her mood.
“Grace, do not talk to me like that. I’m trying to be understanding but I’m not going to tolerate you disrespecting me like that.”
“Whatever.”
By this time he had pulled into their driveway and Grace was already halfway up the front walk.
“Grace Elizabeth Williams, get back her right now.”
Steve could see the wince in Grace’s shoulders from his spot at the truck. She knew that her full name meant she was in trouble; they almost never used full names on the girls, only when punishment was going to be falling down swift and strict.
She turned slowly and when she looked Steve in the eye he saw the beginnings of tears glistening in her eyes. Feeling like a piece of shit for yelling at her when she was clearly upset, he slammed the truck door and walked towards her, pushing her along into the house. “Please just tell me what’s going on. You don’t have to tell me details, okay, I just need to know that everything’s okay. You coming home in different clothes that were obviously borrowed worries me.”
“I’m sorry that I worried you. I promise it’s nothing.”
“Grace, I can tell that you aren’t comfortable, but can you please put my mind to rest by giving me a little something more.”
“Something got on my skirt and the nurse was nice enough to get me an extra pair of uniform pants so I didn’t have to wear my dirty skirt all day.” A blush had risen up Grace’s neck and had even tinged the tips of her eyes pink.
Noting her obvious embarrassment, Steve let it go with just that, figuring that maybe later he could learn more, “Okay, see, that was all I wanted to know. So, homework now and then dinner, Aves and Danny will be home around five-thirty so we’ll be eating then.”
Grace made her way upstairs, schoolbag clutched tightly in her hand. Steve spent the next hour or so puttering around the house before he started to make dinner. Danny and Avery came home from swim practice just as dinner was coming out of the oven.
“Perfect timing, dinner’s ready,” Steve greeted, “Avery go up and tell Grace that it’s time to eat.”
Danny walked over and gave Steve a peck on the cheek.
“Aw, that’s all I get after slaving away in the kitchen,” Steve pouted.
“Put that pouty lip away, Super SEAL, all you did was roast chicken in the oven.”
“Yeah, but Danno, I also had to spend an entire car ride with grump face up there.”
“Still in a bad mood?” Danny questioned, leaning into Steve more than necessary as he reached for plates and glasses to set out on the table.
“Yup, and I have no idea what happened other than her skirt got dirty so she had to borrow clothes from the nurse.”
“How did it get dirty?”
“No idea, she wouldn’t say and stomped off to her room before giving me any details past ‘My skirt got dirty.’ I decided not to push it at the time.”
The girls came down and few minutes later and they all sat down to dinner. It was always wonderful when the whole family was under the same roof, but Steve couldn’t help his eyes wandering over to Grace more often than they usually do. A few glances in Danny’s direction confirmed that he was having the same problem. Grace appeared okay, but there was definitely something bothering her.
When Grace asked to be excused early and declined dessert, Steve cocked an eyebrow in Danny’s direction who just shrugged in response.
Clearing away the dishes, Avery came into the kitchen where her parents were cleaning up, “Hey, guys, I really need a new bathing suit.”
Danny turned away from the sink to look at her, “Need, need or just really want one because you saw this really cool pattern at practice today.”
“Well, sort of both, but honestly I really do need a new one. The one I’ve been wearing is almost drag suit material; it’s starting to rip. I’ve already had to tie two holes together.”
“Okay, okay if your current suit is falling apart we can get a new one,” Danny acquiesced, “When do you want to go shopping?”
“Tonight,” Avery questioned hopefully, an innocent doe-eyed look on her face that she knew turned both her dads to jelly.
“Fine, but do not make this a habit Avery Lynne,” Danny said as he dried his hands and grabbed the keys, “Meet me in the car in two minutes.”
Avery ran up the stairs to get her shoes and Danny turned towards Steve, “You cool by yourself?”
“I’ve been taking care of myself for a very long time, Danno.”
Danny rolled his eyes, playfully shoving Steve into the sink, enough for a few soapy bubbles to find their way onto his t-shirt, “I know that, dumbass. I meant are you going to be okay with Grace.”
“It’s not like she’s never been in a bad mood before; I can handle it fine.”
“I know, I know, I just don’t want you to get stuck with cranky-pants the whole day.”
“Just go get Avery a bathing suit; it shouldn’t take that long anyway.”
“Yeah, thank god for that. I will never stop thanking whatever god is up there that at least one of our daughters has a more reasonable idea about clothing.”
Steve laughed, pulling Danny in for a long kiss, “I love you.”
“Love you too, Steve. See you soon.”
Steve waved and then got back to scrubbing off the last of the pots before turning the dishwasher on and heading up the stairs to check if Grace had any laundry; he figured he’d do a load before he called it a night on the house chores.
“Hey, Gracie,” Steve said as he knocked on her door. He pushed the door open slightly to see Grace asleep on top of her covers, tear tracks staining her cheeks. Brushing a stray hair out of her face, Steve bends down and places a kiss on her forehead; she may have been miserable to be around the past few days, but Grace was still his girl and he loved her through the good and the bad, right down to his very core.
He glanced around the room and saw a pile of dirty clothes in the corner. Thinking nothing of it, he grabbed them and headed towards the laundry room.
Organizing them into two piles, he saw a crumpled up tan skirt at the bottom – Grace’s uniform skirt. Unfolding it from the ball, he held it up to see what had gotten on it.
Horrified, he noticed that there was a big spot of blood on the back of the skirt. Crumpling it back into a ball, he was about to rush up the stairs and wake Grace up demanding she tell him how she got hurt when he took a breath.
It wasn’t a very large spot of blood, and Grace had been acting rather moody lately.
Oh god, Steve thought as realization suddenly dawned on him. She wasn’t hurt. No, this was way worse. Well, okay, Steve should stop being dramatic because in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t worse, but it was mortifying, for both him and Grace.
Because now he had to have a conversation with her about growing up and becoming a woman and lady things. He did not want to have a conversation about lady things.
But Rachel was away for another few days, and Steve was obviously not an expert on these things, but he knew that it wasn’t a one day thing so Grace would probably need…stuff. And it’s not like him and Danny kept this stuff on hand, though, now that he thought about it, they probably should have realized this moment would be upon them quickly and been more prepared.
He got his phone from the kitchen, about to call Danny and ask him to pick some stuff up on the way home, but then he thought better of it. Grace was clearly upset and embarrassed, and she probably didn’t want Steve or Danny to know, let alone have Danny drag Avery along.
Steve put the phone down and finished doing the laundry, figuring the best way to handle it was to wait until Grace woke up from her nap and they had a civilized, albeit probably awkward, conversation about it.
Grace woke up about an hour later. As Steve listened to her rummage around upstairs, he thought it was weird Danny and Avery weren’t back yet, but his mind firmly focused on discussing things with Grace, didn’t think much of it. She came down a few minutes later, a harried look on her face.
“Something wrong,” he asked from his office desk where he was sitting finishing up some paperwork.
“Did you take clothes out of my room?”
“Yeah, I did the laundry, thought you’d like some of your clothes cleaned.”
“Why didn’t you ask?”
“Because you were asleep and I didn’t want to wake you.”
Grace scowled, yelling at him, “You should have woken me up and asked before you took my things.”
“I was trying to help you, Grace. Do not bite my head off.”
Well this wasn’t exactly how he was hoping this conversation would go. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he got up and walked towards Grace in the kitchen, steering her into a chair at the table. He sat down next to her and made sure her chair was facing in his direction. He took a deep breath; he was so outside his element in this moment he wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but he was a SEAL and a father and he was going to do this because he had to, for his daughter.
“Grace, why didn’t you tell me what happened to your skirt.” He decided that honesty and getting straight to the point was the best method of handling the situation, no need to beat around the bush with thinly veiled hints, waiting for her to open up.
“Because it was embarrassing and I didn’t want to relive it in great detail.”
“But, Gracie, honey, you need to tell me these things. I know that what happened was probably incredibly embarrassing but there are things that we have to talk about now, no matter how uncomfortable they make us.”
“I already know all about it, Steve. Mom’s told me.”
“Okay, well that’s good. But I want you to know that you can come and talk to me or Danno too, if you want.” Steve was almost positive he was blushing incredibly bright at this point.
“I appreciate that, but I’m really good.” Grace tried to pull away from the conversation, but Steve grabbed the chair and slid it back towards the table.
“Grace, you are going to sit here until the conversation is over, which it almost is, I promise.”
“Please, just stop it soon because I really don’t want to talk to my dad about this.”
“And I wish that we could call your mom and have her come over and you could talk to her because I know that would be easier. Hell, I don’t know what I’m doing either; this isn’t exactly a cakewalk for me. But, the fact of the matter is, you are growing up fast, and even if I wish it would stop, it won’t and we need to be ready for that. We should have talked about this stuff before, been prepared.”
“Steve,” Grace whined, fidgeting in her chair, itching to get out of there and go far, far away.
“You’re becoming a woman Grace and that’s very special.”
“Ugh, just stop,” Grace’s hands came up over her ears, cupping them tightly as she shut her eyes, “Please, can we not have the ‘becoming a woman’ talk because I really don’t think I can handle that on top of the fact that I got my period in front of the entire school. All I want to do is eat chocolate, listen to sad music, and stay in bed for the rest of eternity because there is no way I’m showing my face at school tomorrow.”
Steve ran a hand up Grace’s back in comfort, “Okay, no more talking unless you want. I am sorry that it had to happen like this, and then of course your mom being out of town. I’ve never been good at the girl stuff, Grace, and I wish you didn’t have to deal with me, but I thought you might prefer it if we kept this between us, at least for now.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly, her eyes slowly easing open as she looked up towards him, “And for the record, you were never that bad at the girl stuff.”
Steve laughed and pulled her in for a hug, “Thanks, Gracie.”
“Your fashion sense could use some work though.”
“Yeah, I bet it could. Let’s go to the store and get the things you need now, then we can come home and watch movies and eat chocolate ice cream.”
“Really, you’ll eat it with me?”
“Yup and the two of us can sit in my bed upstairs and you can pick the sappiest movie possible and we’ll eat ice cream with sprinkles and cry together and bury under the covers and pretend the world doesn’t exist for a little while.”
Grace tightened her hold on him. “You’re the best, Steve. Mom never would have done this with me; she would have told me what a privilege it is to be a woman, at least that’s what she said when she told me about it the first time. And then she would tell me that it’s not a big deal and I shouldn’t worry about it because every girl has to deal with it.”
“Well, I’m not a woman so I really don’t know. But I did grow up with a sister and from what I gathered from her, it’s no walk in the park, and junk food and sappy movies seemed to be the only thing that made it bearable.”
“Remind me to thank Aunt Mary the next time she comes into town.”
“Will do, kiddo. C’mon let’s get going before the rest of our clan gets here.”
With one last squeeze, he and Grace pull apart and walk towards the door.
Yeah, he thought, I’m not half bad at this girl stuff. Boys still would have been easier though.