Title: Twice De Fun
Author: Mackenzie.
Rated: G
Summary: When Jesse's twin nieces come for a visit, will their
behavior cover up big problems, problems that even Jesse can't
handle?
Disclaimer: The characters Jesse Travis, Steve Sloan, Mark Sloan,
and Amanda Bentley are those of CBS and Viacom, not mine.
Community General and other places that are included also belong
to CBS and Viacom, the other characters are mine. No profit
is being made off this.
Feedback: Yes, I want feedback, thanks.
"I could have saved her," Jesse Travis thought as he
walked into the doctors lounge of Community General. He was
thinking about a young woman who was hit by a car and rushed to
the hospital. Although he tried, he could not save her. Jesse
couldn't help but feel upset. He took every death to his heart.
Dr. Amanda Bentley was sitting on the couch and saw the
distraught look on her friend's face.
"What's wrong, Jess?" Amanda questioned him.
"I lost a patient, a young one," Jesse answered his
concerned friend.
"It's hard, I know. But you have to cheer up,
remember?" Amanda replied to Jesse, placing a loving hand on
his shoulder.
"Yeah, I know," Jesse said back, referring to the
arrival of his nieces. His two, twelve year old twin nieces,
Allison and Valerie, were staying with him for the weekend.
"You need to keep up your strength, taking care of the kids
for the weekend won't be easy," Amanda warned.
"Don't worry, last time I watched them, they were perfect
angels," Jesse shot back.
"They were EIGHT!" Amanda exclaimed. And, after seeing
the look on Jesse's face, said, "Remember what happened when
you babysat CJ?" She barely held back a laugh.
"It won't be like that, I know they'll be good," Jesse
defended. As they fought, Mark came in.
"What are you fighting about NOW?!?" Mark asked as he
laughed aloud. Jesse and Amanda laughed, too.
Jesse looked at the clock on the wall and gasped. "It's
3:15! My nieces will be here soon, I better go!"
"Have a nice weekend!" Amanda and Mark yelled to Jesse
as he rushed out of the lounge. It was Friday afternoon and
Amanda left to finish her autopsy and Mark left to page Steve.
Jesse got home just in time for Allison and Valerie to arrive.
"Hey guys!" Jesse waved to the kids as he showed them
the way to his house.
"Hi, I'm Alley," Said one of the girls. She wore her
blonde hair in pigtails and had on a bright pink tee shirt.
"And of coarse, you know, this is Val," Alley indicated
a slightly smaller girl who looked almost exactly like her twin.
Jesse was surprised by how much these two changed in four years.
Jesse showed the girls around his home and showed them where they
were going to stay. He said they could relax until dinner.
Jesse called them down a couple of hours later and they ordered
Chinese from a nearby restaurant. After dinner, when Jesse
invited them to watch television, they refused saying they were
too tired. Jesse, after kissing them goodnight, retired to the
television. He soon fell asleep. He awoke, with a gasp, as his
phone rang loudly.
"Hello?" Jesse said into the receiver, only half awake.
"Jess, it's me, Steve," Said the voice on the other
end.
"Steve? Why are you calling me at this hour, its past
midnight? Jesse almost screamed at Steve.
"Jess, I'm sorry to bother you, but this is important,"
Steve replied back, sounding flustered.
"Sorry, what is it?" Jesse responded, more awake now.
"It's about your nieces…" Steve started.
"What about them?" Jesse interrupted.
"Please, let me finish." Steve yelled. Jesse sank back
into the sofa like a little boy. He knew how touchy Steve could
get sometimes when something was wrong or when he was concerned
for a friend. "Ok," Steve started again. "Well, we
got a call about 45 minutes ago about two girls who were sneaking
into movie theaters and shoplifting. When we got there, it turned
out to be Allison and Valerie. They recognized me, whereas, I
didn't recognize them. Now, you have to come down to the station
for this, Jess, they are waiting for you."
"Are they okay?" Jesse asked, panicked.
"Yes, they are fine. I have been watching them," Steve
reassured his nervous friend.
Jesse was so nervous and upset that he couldn't drive to the
station. So he called Amanda and she said that she would pick him
up in ten minutes. When she arrived, Jesse filled her in on the
details of Alley and Val and she was just as upset as Jesse, but
she could at least drive, something that Jesse could not do at
this time. When they arrived at the station, Steve greeted Jesse.
"Jesse, the kids are over there," Steve said, pointing,
"Please, don't be too hard on them."
"But, Steve, how should I handle this?" Jesse asked,
panicked.
"I don't know, I really don't." Steve tried to reassure
Jesse.
"Thanks anyway, Amanda will you drive us home?" Jesse
asked Amanda.
"Sure, I'll wait in the car," Amanda answered, sounding
tired. Jesse walked over to the twins. He stared at them and
started yelling at them. Within minutes Allison was crying.
"Why did you do this?" Jesse asked. No one replied.
"Valerie?" Jesse asked. There was no response. Valerie
wasn't even listening to him. "Allison?" Jesse asked
again.
"Look, Uncle Jesse," Allison said through her sobs,
"I'm sorry. I don't know why we did that. I don't know, I'm
sorry." Allison put her head in her hands. Jesse looked over
at Steve, who was listening to Jesse and the twins. Jesse decided
it was time to go home, and so they did. In the car, Valerie
showed no signs of remorse and Allison spent most of the ride
home crying. Amanda talked to Jesse and Jesse felt somewhat
better after their talk.
When Jesse got home, he told the twins that they would talk about
everything in the morning because by the time they got home it
was almost 2 o'clock in the morning.
About two hours later, Jesse dragged himself into the kitchen
because he couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about the twins, one
thing led to another, and he was shaking in terror from his
nightmares. He was surprised to see Allison sitting at the table
talking quietly to herself.
"Hey Alley, what are you doing up this late?" Jesse
asked, surprised that his voice was so kind. Apparently, Allison
was surprised, too.
"Um, I don't know. I couldn't sleep, I guess," Allison
answered, unsure of herself. Her voice was shaking, "What's
going to happen?"
"I don't know, kiddo, but I'm sorry I lost it." Jesse
gave Allison a hug. "Where's your sister?"
"She's sleeping; you don't have to be sorry. Val is like
that. She doesn't really care about what she does and she is
really shy. Daddy would have done the same thing. By the way, are
you going to tell my dad, please, Uncle Jesse, don't tell
daddy." Allison begged Jesse. "He'll um…. Nothing,
forget it, he will over react." Allison knew she said too
much.
"What will he do?" Jesse asked his niece. "You can
trust me."
"Nothing, he will do nothing. Forget I said anything,"
Allison pleaded with her uncle.
"No, Alley, tell me. You know that you can tell me anything
and what my brother-in-law does is important to me," Jesse
tried to reason with Allison.
"I don't have to tell you anything!" Allison yelled.
She took off running but Jesse, now enough awake to catch her,
grabbed her arm and hugged her really tight. He soothed her.
After a few minutes, Allison was asleep in Jesse's arms. He
tucked her in bed next to her sister and crawled in bed himself.
He knew in a few hours, he would be back up. At least he didn't
have to go to work tomorrow. He got the weekend off, but he had a
feeling that it wouldn't be a good vacation. With that thought,
he finally was able to go back to sleep.
In the morning, he woke up to see the twins on his bed, shaking
him. Jesse was laughing too hard to be mad. He could hardly
believe that these were the same kids who were so bad only the
night before.
After breakfast, they all sat down in the living room to have a
serious talk. First they talked about last night.
"Now, calmly explain to me what you did last night,
please," Jesse questioned the girls, trying hard to keep his
patience.
"Well, we snuck out, and then we went to the movies. And
then we went shopping. Nothing much." Valerie informed
Jesse.
"So, you snuck into the movies and shoplifted, right?"
Jesse asked Valerie.
"Yeah, and then Steve came, he is such a jerk. He had to
make such a big deal out of nothing at all." Val continued.
"I don't know what I'm going to do, I have to think about
it, but there is something else we need to talk about,"
Jesse added with a sigh.
Allison looked nervous. She turned to her sister. They whispered
back and forth and finally, Valerie said, "What do you want
to talk about?"
"What me and Alley started talking about last night, you
know…." Jesse started and he knew they understood what
he meant.
"Yeah, about that," Allison began. She got a really
worried look on her face. "Um… Well, I meant that our
dad might just you know, over react and do some things that might
hurt us."
"No, I don't know, what does he do to you?" Jesse
almost screamed out.
"Calm down, Uncle Jess," Allison calmly responded to
her uncle.
"Sometimes he, kind of, hits us, you know, it's no big deal,
Alley and her big mouth, just thought that you were going to do
the same thing and she got scared." Valerie explained.
"Val? Alley? Is that true? Does your dad beat you up?"
Jesse asked, panicked.
"No, no, no" Val started, "He doesn't beat us up.
Sometimes he hits us and it hurts. To tell you the truth, I was
scared of the same thing. Just, you won't do that, will
you?"
"I won't hit you. And I won't let your father hit you
anymore." Jesse told the girls, determination in his voice.
"Uncle Jesse, you can't tell anyone. You really can't. If
you do, than we will get hurt more than you would believe,"
Valerie warned her uncle. Jesse, now in tears, embraced the
girls. He told them that everything would be okay. But, without
knowing it, he promised the girls that he would not say anything
to anyone.
Later that day, Jesse left the kids alone and said he had to go
to work. He didn't go to the hospital, though. He went to the
LAPD. He had to talk to Steve. Jesse knocked on the door to
Steve's office and was happy to find out that he was in his
office.
"Come in!" Steve yelled through the door. When Jesse
came in, Steve didn't know what to think. "Hey Jess, how are
you today? How did things go with Allison and Valerie?"
"That's what I came here to talk about. I trust you, Steve,
and I need your help." Jesse practically begged his friend.
"Sit down, let's talk," Steve replied, "What's the
problem?"
"Well, here's the thing. I talked to Allison last night, and
Valerie this morning and they were talking about how they were
scared that I was going to punish them," Jesse began.
"That's normal, they are scared of what kind of trouble they
are in," Steve interrupted.
"I wasn't done," Jesse scolded, "Anyway, they said
that they were scared that I was going to hit them."
"You mean they thought you would spank them?" Steve
questioned.
"No, they said that their dad hits them sometimes and they
said that if I told anyone than they would be in more trouble
than I could imagine. They wouldn't tell me at first, but I got
it out of them." Jesse admitted.
"Jess, this sounds like abuse. Are their any physical marks?
Like bruises?" Steve asked his friend.
"I don't know. They wore baggy clothes," Jesse said.
"Is this serious?"
"It can be, I think I'll have a talk with the twins."
Steve replied.
"I don't think that would be a good idea. They are mad at
you for arresting them and they will be furious at me for
betraying their trust. Do you think I did the right thing?"
Jesse asked.
"Yeah, I would have done the same thing. I think it took a
lot of courage to come up to me and talk to me. You must really
love them." Steve commented.
"I do, I really do. I think I am going to talk to
Marc." Jesse waved goodbye to Steve.
"That's a good idea. I'll look into helping them, bye!"
Steve screamed to Jesse as he left the police station and headed
eagerly to Community General.
Jesse knocked on the door to Dr. Mark Sloan's office inside
Community General. "Come in!" Mark screeched through
the door to Jesse.
"Hi, I need to talk to you about something, ok?" Jesse
replied to Mark. Mark noticed the tears that were starting to
well up in Jesse's eyes.
"Are you okay?" Mark questioned.
"Yeah, kind of, here's the thing," Jesse started.
"It's about Allison and Valerie. Allison and I were talking
last night really late because she couldn't sleep and neither
could I. She mentioned something to me and I spent half the rest
of the night thinking about it. She said that she didn't want me
to tell her father what happened last night because he would over
react and she said some other things about that. The next
morning, Valerie confided in me that sometimes their father hits
them all over really hard and that if I told anyone than they
would be in more trouble than I could imagine. I got really
upset. I know I am betraying their trust, but I had to talk to
someone. I talked to Steve, but you have been like a father to
me, so I thought…." Jesse stopped. Tears were flowing
down his face. Mark, touched, but at the same time, concerned for
his friend's nieces, hugged Jesse and just sat with him for about
5 minutes.
"You have to tell someone, Jess," Mark patted Jesse on
the back.
" But, to whom do I tell?" Jesse asked, a puzzled look
on his face.
"Well, you talked to Steve already, he will know who to talk
to, he might even do it for you," Mark informed Jesse.
"Yeah, he said that he would help the kids, I sure hope he
does it before tomorrow at 2:00 pm, because that is when they are
leaving," Jesse spoke to Mark, too afraid to look up, for he
didn't want his friend to see him cry.
"Don't you have to get back to the kids?" Mark asked
Jesse.
"Yeah, thanks for everything. I'll talk to you later,"
Jesse responded as he sprinted out the door.
When Jesse got home, he found, to his surprise, that the house
was just as he left it and the kids were okay. He could tell that
Allison and Valerie were nervous about telling Jesse the truth
about their dad. It was noticeable that they were very fearful of
the whole ordeal.
"Did you decide what you were going to do?" Valerie
asked, hoping that the answer would be to just forget about it.
"Yes, I did," Jesse paused, and before started talking
again, took a good look at the kid's faces. "I decided to
report your father for child abuse. And he won't know about the
movie theatre and the shop lifting."
"Are you for real?" Valerie asked, amazed.
"How could you? How could you report your own
brother-in-law? It isn't abuse, it doesn't even hurt, and why
don't you just leave us alone and go with your idiot cop friends
and arrest some other innocent kid?" Allison screamed at her
uncle.
"Allison, wait," Jesse ran after Allison and grabbed
her. "It is abuse. He hits you and you told me that he hit
you hard, remember?"
"Alley, he's right, and it's true, I know that you know that
it does hurt and that he hates us. Maybe Uncle Jesse IS actually
going to help us." Valerie said to her twin.
"Fine, whatever." Allison snapped at Valerie and Jesse.
"What's going to happen to us?" Valerie asked, fear in
her voice.
"I don't know, but Steve will drop by soon," Jesse
stopped mid sentence as the doorbell rang. It was Steve.
"Hey Steve, thanks for coming," Jesse greeted.
"What do you have so far?"
"So far, their will be a child protection services member at
their house for a while starting Sunday. I hate to have the kids
live like that, but that's how things have to be. There isn't
enough proof to arrest him," Steve told Jesse.
"Thanks, do you want to stay for a cup of coffee?"
Jesse asked.
"Sure, I think I have some time," Steve answered.
The two of them sat down at the kitchen table and talked. Steve
had always been like an older brother to Jesse and that is why he
always went to Steve for advice. Steve reassured Jesse that he
did the right thing. And that the kids would probably feel better
with another person around, and that the abuse would now stop,
thanks to him. Jesse felt better when he heard this.
The next day, Allison and Valerie packed up to go home. Jesse had
explained to them that there would be a child protective service
agent waiting at their house. Allison and Valerie were, to
Jesse's surprise, very grateful that Jesse told Steve and Mark.
As they were leaving, Allison and Valerie handed Jesse a wrapped
present.
"Oh, you two didn't have to get me a gift!" Jesse
exclaimed.
As he opened the card, it read:
Sorry that we were so bad
We knew what we did do,
Sorry that we made you mad,
And of us there are two.
Sorry that we made you sad,
But nobody knew.
Because we snuck into movies
And we did shoplift
Here is something that comes from our hearts
Some people call 'a gift'
Jesse read the card and his eyes became watery. He opened the
gift and it was a little piece of paper that read:
J- Just enough love
E- Energetic Smiles
S- Silly and funny heart
S- Sensitive and Caring
E- Everything an uncle could be
PLUS MORE! Thanks for everything.
Love,
Alley and Val
"Thank you," Jesse hugged the girls, "I love you
always!"
As the girls left, he knew that he would see more of them. He was
going to talk to them soon and invite them over again. It hurt
Jesse that Allison and Valerie were abused and that he could not
stop it. He had helped, though and he had faith that now the
abuse would stop.
About a week later, he got a phone call from Valerie. They talked
and Jesse was glad to hear that their father was all gone now; he
moved to Maine, far away from LA. Valerie said that she and
Allison were joining a support group for abused teens and they
said they wanted to come over to Jesse's again.
"Maybe someday, as long as you promise no more run ins with
Steve!" Jesse laughed through the receiver. Two other voices
began laughing, too. And that's how it was when the twins thought
about Jesse, they could hear his laughing. And of coarse, they
came over again, but that's another story.
The end!
