Maggie was at the stove, not really paying attention to the pork chops in the frying pan, even though she was looking right at them. It was when her mother put on an oven mitt and grabbed the frying pan and moved it to a free burner, that she realized something had happened. “Hey, I was watching those.”

“Watch them do what? Burn?” Bernice asked and Maggie blushed when she saw she had burned the chops. Vance was in the kitchen as well, opening up the windows to clear the smoke out. In the living-room, her father was opening up a couple of windows, despite the cold weather. William was walking into the kitchen with a fan. He placed it in a window so it sucked the smoke out the window by the table.

Edits by Djkauf

Time to focus on the Patterson women.

Wednesday February 16th 1983

Somewhere in the night the two girls had rolled over. Rachel's eyes opened slowly and she realized that she was in bed with Tracy still. She could feel the bare skin of Tracy's lower leg against her bare leg. She decided to just slip out of the bed and let her friend sleep. Tracy stirred as she slipped out of her arms, but began snoring again. She knew it was early, but she was hopeful that she could get in and out of the shower before her sister got up.

Thirty minutes later, Tracy's eyes opened as the door opened up, as Rachel stepped into the room, then she shut the door. Her hair was in a towel and she had a second one wrapped around her waist. Tracy rubbed at her eyes as she sat up in bed. Then she realized that her shirt had ridden up in the night exposing part of her chest. She sat up and adjusted her clothes, and noticed that Rachel wasn't even paying attention to her.

“You woke up before your alarm?” Tracy asked. “Not because of yesterday, was it?”

“No, not at all.” Rachel stated. “I got up early and wanted to spend time with you, before I have to go to school.”

“I think I'm here today.” Tracy replied, for no reason at all.

“Yeah. Mom has today off. And after school, we're thinking of heading to the park. Wanna go?”

“Sure.” Tracy half-heartedly replied. She looked into Rachel's eyes and asked. “Are we good? I mean after yesterday? I just recall falling asleep and then you were out of the bed. I didn't do anything in my sleep, did I?”

“We are very good.” Rachel said as she hugged Tracy. “And all you did was snore in your sleep.”

“You want me to leave as you dress?”

“Only if you want.” Rachel said. She picked up Mittens the kitten from her bed and held the little ball of fur to Tracy. “Or you can pet the boss here and I'll quickly get dressed.”

Tracy took the kitten and put it in her lap and began scratching at it's ears. “I wish I had a cat.” She said as the little kitten began to purr.

“Lot of responsibility. Just like a dog.” Rachel said as she half stepped into her closet to get dressed

“Yeah, and till we leave Aunt Shelly's house, we shouldn't get one.” Tracy said, as the kitten got up, turned in two complete circles, then rested on her lap, in the same spot it had just been in.

“How are you feeling today? Ready for lots of learning?”

“I'd still rather be with you three.” Tracy grumbled. Tracy looked up as she only a glimpse of Rachel's back as she put on a training bra.

“I know.” Rachel tossed the towel she had been covered up in onto a hamper and she went to Tracy, after grabbing a pair of girl’s pants and a shirt. She pulled on the shirt, then sat down next to her friend. “Next school year. Then we all go together.”

“Yeah. I can't wait.” Tracy replied. “I got to make sure they'll let me be in your grade.”

“Then focus on the school work. Focus hard.” Rachel stood up and pulled on her pants. “You gonna wear pants or a skirt to the park today?”

“Do you think I should wear pants?”

“Well, I looked out the window and it looked like rain today, so you may wanna wear pants, so your legs don't get all muddy.”

“Okay. I got a pair with me.”

Rachel's clock radio turned on and this time she had set it to music, instead of alarm. There was a break in the music as a commercial played, then the DJ announced the song and the drum started the song with the keyboard following a few seconds later. “Ooooh, hey you hear this one yet?” Rachel asked as she went to the radio and turned the volume up. “It's Africa from Toto.”

Tracy didn't say a word, instead she sat there, petting the kitten, and watching Rachel dance in her room. As the song ended and the DJ announced the title, he went through the quick report of the weather and traffic, giving Rachel some time to get her hair in order. As she was pulling on her shoes, another song started and Rachel gasped again. “Prince!!!”

“Prince?” Tracy asked as the song little red corvette started to play. "Like a royal guy?"

“Just listen, this guy is awesome. He has other songs, too.”

~o~O~o~

Tracy had wanted to walk with Rachel to Brooke's house, but she didn't want people wondering why she went back to Rachel's home, instead of going to school. So instead she walked her to the door and watched as her friends walked off.

“Mrs. Williams?” Tracy called out to her as she walked into the kitchen, her books for her schooling in her hands. “Could I do some laundry? I got something that needs to be cleaned and I want it for when Sage and Brooke come home today. They want to go to the park.”

“Sure, dear. You want to grab it and we can work on cleaning it now?”

“I think it needs to air dry, though.”

“Well, let’s see, okay?”

A few minutes later, Tracy brought down the gaff and showed it to Lynn. “Sweetie, you can't machine wash this. It would tear apart in the wash. Have you ever hand washed clothes?”

“No, is it hard?”

“No, but let me get things started and I'll show you. Do you have any other things that need to be washed?”

“Just my skirts and stuff, but I can wait for Aunt Shelly to come home.”

“Well, if you want to bring them down, you can. I know Rachel and Jamie both have stuff that needs to be cleaned.”

“I can help you, if you want...”

“Well, you also have school work to do.” Lynn reminded her.

“I know.” Tracy grumbled.

“Hey, school work is important. This way if they test you for next year, you can be in the same grade as your friends.” Lynn told her, then she changed the subject, to save on grumbling. “So, where are the legs to these nylons?”

“Sage called this a gaff.”

“A gaff?” Lynn asked as she started to show Tracy how to clean it.

“It....” Tracy looked down and her cheeks went red again. “It holds my boy parts in place, so it won’t be seen by people.”

“I see. That's very smart.”

“I need to get more, but I'm not sure how to find them, or make them.” Tracy stated.

“Well, it looks like it is just pantyhose. And it looks like two pair. Tell me, Tracy, are they tight? Do they dig into your sides?”

“A little.” She replied.

“Would you like to do some shopping later and get a few more pairs? We can make you a couple of backups, in case one gets too stinky.” Lynn said. “I can call Persephone and make sure I know how to make them.”

“Could we? I have some money that I can use. It's part of my Christmas money.”

“I'll take you to the store in a bit. There's a pharmacy nearby.”

~o~O~o~

Maggie sat at her desk, half paying attention to the picture in front of her, the one with Tracy and all of her daughter’s friends. She had found it hard to focus on the job the past three days.

Chris had been in there for several minutes when he took a seat on the counter and he faced Maggie's desk. He finally cleared his throat to get her to realize she wasn't alone. “Maggie, Are you going to be able to make it the next week and a half?”

Maggie jumped. She hadn't heard him enter the building. He repeated his question and she answered with a nod of her head. “Yes.” Something in her voice told him that she didn't want to be there.

“Maggie, I'm going to let you quit at the end of your workweek, so tomorrow. My wife will come in and cover the desk until we get someone new.”

“You're firing me?”

“Maggie, I'm not firing you. It's just that you're not really here anymore. And being away from Tracy is tearing you apart. You said you're going to see her on Friday?”

Maggie nodded. “We have an appointment with two of her doctors.”

“And you have a place to stay already?”

“Yeah, with Tracy's Godparents.” Maggie said with a nod of her head.

“Then Maggie, move now. If you're this torn up from being away from her, think of how the kid is feeling.” Chris said. “Talk to William and tell him I'm willing to let you leave a week early and to make up for that missing week of work, I'll give you a Christmas bonus now. You've been here for almost ten years, so you can call it a severance check if you want and I'll even sweeten the deal with a glowing recommendation for any job you apply for after this.”

“You...you'd let me go a week early? And a Christmas bonus? But Christmas passed.”

“Call it severance then. I'd let you get to your child because I know how important this is to you.

Maggie almost flew out of her chair and hugged him.

~o~O~o~

Tracy was at the table with Lynn, there were clippings of pantyhose on the table when Rachel came home. Tracy's school work had been done for the day, even though Lynn felt there should have been more. Rachel stepped into the kitchen and smiled at her mom. “Hey, Mom, can we go to the park for a little, while it’s not raining anymore?”

“Homework?”

“I got a little. Can I do it later?”

“I'll let you do it really quick now. Have the girls come here and you can go when you're done, but Tracy and I are in the middle of doing laundry and fixing something for her.”

“Laundry?” Rachel asked, looking to Tracy.

“My gaff was nasty. It needed to be cleaned.” Tracy replied. “So it's drying off and we're making another one, so I can go to the park and not have issues rise.” Rachel began to snicker and her mother shot her a dirty look.

“Sorry, Mom, but it is kinda funny.”

Tracy just nodded and smiled at Lynn. “Okay, but try to not tease her too much.” Lynn warned her daughter. Rachel went to the phone and made two quick calls, then she came back to the table.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Rachel went off to answer it. She heard Rachel, Sage and Brooke come into the kitchen as she cut the last pair of nylons.

“Okay. You go get dressed and I'll let these hang and dry. Then you can take care of them, when you get back.”

Tracy took one of the gaffs and headed for a nearby bathroom. Ten minutes later, she came out, wearing her jeans and a clean pink shirt.

Sage was looking over the gaffs they had made. “Cool, you both figured it out. I forgot to tell you how to make more. I should have said something.”

“Its okay. My other one was getting dirty and Mrs. Williams decided to help me with more. We talked to your mom and she guided us on how to do it.”

“Awesome.” Sage replied. She leaned in close and whispered into Tracy's ear. “Have you got it down to a science yet? The tuck, I mean.”

Tracy blushed. “Yeah, took some doing.” She whispered back.

“It does. But it's a good skill to hone now.” Sage stated.

~o~O~o~

Maggie was at the stove, not really paying attention to the pork chops in the frying pan, even though she was looking right at them. It was when her mother put on an oven mitt and grabbed the frying pan and moved it to a free burner, that she realized something had happened. “Hey, I was watching those.”

“Watch them do what? Burn?” Bernice asked and Maggie blushed when she saw she had burned the chops. Vance was in the kitchen as well, opening up the windows to clear the smoke out. In the living-room, her father was opening up a couple of windows, despite the cold weather. William was walking into the kitchen with a fan. He placed it in a window so it sucked the smoke out the window by the table.

When he had turned on the fan, William gently touched his wife's shoulder. “We can just do hot dogs or something, but what is wrong? You're not even here.”

“Just thinking.” Maggie said as she moved away from the stove, after shutting it off.

“Tracy?” William asked her.

“That and an offer Chris gave me today.” Maggie replied and she nodded.

“What type of offer?”

“He's willing to let me leave at the end of the week, instead of waiting through next week too. He's offered to pay me next week like a Christmas bonus.” She gave him a hopeful look and held his hands. “I want to go. I need to be there.”

“Okay.” William said with a nod of his head. “You can go. This means way too much to you to make you wait. We move you when we go for her meeting. I already have it off as vacation time.”

~o~O~o~

Thursday February 17th 1983

Tracy got into the car and sat between Jamie and Rachel. The day had been very uneventful, with her going to Brooke's house to do her school work. When she got back to Rachel's, they hung out, watching T.V. till dinner time. That was when Lance herded the girls to his car. “Where are we going?” She asked as they got in. “I thought Uncle Frank and Aunt Shelly didn't get home until tomorrow?”

“They won't be, but you are with us and we wanted to go out to eat tonight. There is a new place we wanted to try, so you're coming with us.” Lance said. “And actually, they will be home later this evening, they were going to catch a show at seven and drive home, but I don't want to wake you up at ten to take you over there. Frank will be home tomorrow, so they can get you to your meetings if your parents are running late.”

“What time are they?” Rachel asked.

“It's in Dublin at three thirty.” Tracy answered, then she added. “And the Doctor's appointment is at four thirty or later. Mom said he'd stay open for us.”

“Awesome. So you can get the girl hormones in your body?” Rachel asked and Tracy nodded.

“I wonder if Shelly and Frank are ready for that?” Lance asked.

“What do you mean?” Tracy leaned forward in her seat. “Will something happen?”

“Sweetie, he's trying to be funny.” Lynn said, glaring at her husband. “You're just going to be a bit emotional for a day or two.”

“And have a desire to eat chocolate.” Jamie added from her seat with a giggle.

Lynn turned and saw a mix of fear and confusion on Tracy's face. She reached back and patted the girl's knee. “It's totally safe. It's just hormones will play havoc on your emotions. But be thankful that you don't have to deal with the other part to it.”

“Yeah.” Jamie said. “Pads and periods are no fun at all.” She looked at her father who was driving and then she looked to Tracy and gave a little wicked smile. “I could tell you some stories about mine. Like the time I was wearing...”

“Okay. We can stop this conversation now.” Lance said, looking in the rear-view mirror at his eldest. “We don't need to get into that now or at dinner time. And you don't need to emotionally scar Tracy.”

“But we can talk later if you want, Tracy.” Lynn said. “But you should save your big questions for your mother.”

“Okay.” Tracy replied.

"For now, don't worry about it." Lance told her. "Women have dealt with hormones for years. It's nothing to be scared of. Just focus on dinner out with a friend and not about tomorrow."

Up next, Maggie comes to town.