I pick up in Livermore, just the same day as the last post. If you feel the need to go back and read those, I'll wait right here for you. I couldn't pick a good part to make as a preview, so I'll just leave it all down below.

~o~O~o~

March 6th 1983

It had started just past lunch. The family had gone out to eat after church and everything had been just fine. Until it hit Tracy. Almost two hours after lunch her stomach started to rumble, then she felt nauseous. After an hour or two of misery at Home, Maggie got her dressed and headed for Letterman in San Francisco.

Tracy sat in the E.R., dressed in boy’s sweats and a boy’s sweat top. Her head felt like it was on fire. So did her backside. She was so in misery, she had little time to lament on her clothes. Any time she tired, she started to get sick. There was no time to read. No time to walk. Just time to sit and be miserable.

After going to see the doctor, then waiting as a test was run, finally about eight in the evening, A doctor came up to her in the tiny curtained off area in the E.R.. “Mrs. Patterson, it’s just food poisoning. Not much we can do here, but we’ll give you something to give him and things should work themselves out. If there isn’t a change in a day, seek us out again. Please keep him hydrated and I’d watch what you eat.”

The two of them headed for the car that was in the lot of Lettermen Army Medical Center. Maggie had brought Tracy there to avoid waiting in a normal ER. Plus to save from the hospital bill. This now meant a long trip through San Francisco on the way home.

“Glad we got a good working heater. Feel that breeze coming off the bay. Bet it's in the forties right now.” Maggie said as she unlocked Tracy’s side of the car, then went around to her side.

“Mmmm.” Tracy said as she got into the car. The young girl didn't care. She just wanted to feel better. Her mother had made her go to a bathroom until something happened before they left, so they had a better chance of getting to the bridge.

“Alright. We head for the bridge, but I’ll ask two off ramps prior to the bridge if you need a bathroom. Okay?”

“Yeah mom.” Tracy said with a nod as they both got into the car.

Maggie started up the car and turned the heater down. She’d keep it down until the car got warm, so they didn’t freeze from the cold air first. “You still got the towel under you, but warn me if you need to stop, okay? Not that we can on the bridge.”

“Okay, Mom.” Tracy said as she set the seat back a little.

“At least we got out before midnight. City changes at midnight. Too many weirdos out.” Maggie stated. Then she added. “That said, lock your door please.”

Tracy did as she said and then the two of them headed for Livermore. The city still had a lot of life to it, for being after eight in the evening.. A lot of cars were on the road and several people were out walking. Some of the stores were closed, but liquor stores, restaurants and gas stations still had their lights on. Tracy just watched as the town passed them. “Mom, do you think I can sleep on the couch? In case someone is in the upstairs bathroom?”

“If Shelly is still up, we’ll ask. Either way it may be wisest.” Maggie replied. “Food poisoning is nothing to play with.”

There was a silence for a little bit, then Tracy asked. “So was there a lot to do here when you were a girl?”

“Well, mall’s weren’t much of a thing yet. But we had a place in San Francisco. It was called Playland at the beach. On the ocean side of San Francisco. Had all sorts of rides and was fun. There was the one near Monterey. Santa Cruz Boardwalk. We didn’t go there often. A place in Oakland. Children’s Fairyland. We took you when you were like four or so. But other than that, I don’t recall off hand. Keep in mind, at around sixteen, we moved to Los Angeles and there is Disneyland. San Jose had a place called Frontier village, but that went away in the early eighties.”

“Yeah. I kind of remember that place.” Tracy replied. Her mother sped up to get around a slow moving car. “The city has grown a lot in the past thirty years, so some stuff has come and gone. I’m impressed that some of my old landmarks still exist. Maggie stated as they went up Gough Street.

“You spend much time in San Francisco?” Tracy asked.

“Only if Mom and Dad had to come over. Never came on my own.” Maggie said to her as they drove up the steep road. “I only had my licence about a year before we moved and the house only had two cars. One was moms, one was dads.” She was thankful for the questions. This way she could hear if Tracy was about to get sick, and it meant she was awake to warn her.

“So if I get my licence, I’ll have to share with you guys?” Tracy asked.

Maggie nodded as she stopped at a traffic light. “And Vance. But you still got about five years till you can take the test.”

Tracy looked out the window and up towards the tall homes. “Aww. That’s not fair.”

“Then save up and buy a car when you get a licence. Also get insurance.” Maggie told her with a smile. “Life isn’t fair.”

Tracy was about to reply when she gasped. “Holy crap, there’s a naked woman in a window. About four floors up.”

“Happens.” Maggie said with a chuckle. “Think they are invisible up there. So they change and never shut a curtain. Or they like to be watched.”

"Weird. I think I'd be scared to do that." Tracy stated.

"Different people act different." Maggie said. "Some have no issue with nudity. And so you know, when we stop, I’m getting something light for me to eat over the bridge. And a water for you.” Maggie told her daughter.

“Okay. I am feeling thirsty.” Tracy replied.

~o~O~o~

It was almost ten in the evening, when William made his way down the stairs of Shelly's house to see the flicker and glow of the television. He had just looked in on his kids and found only one of them in bed. He had already spoken to Maggie and Shelly. Both were good with Tracy being on the couch, what with her possible need for a bathroom. But he wasn’t happy that it was almost eleven and she was watching television. As he came down the steps, he could hear the T.V. He wanted to tell his daughter to shut it off and go to sleep, but he could hear her crying over something. After the past week, he didn’t want full blown crying fits to happen.He knew she had been feeling sick as they had gone to bed, but he was hopeful that it has run its course. She was sitting on the love seat, with her back to the steps. As he came down, the last two steps creaked. This cause Tracy to look over at him for just a moment, then she looked back to her movie.

“Hey there. Mind if I sit down?” He asked in a whisper.

“Sure.” She whispered back.

“So, what are you watching?” William asked her.

“Some weird movie about King Arthur. It’s really funny.” Tracy replied, still whispering. “It just started. They just ran into some guy who started making fun of how he got his sword.”

“If it’s funny, why are you crying?”

“My stomach still hurts.” She said as a few more tears raced down her cheeks.

While he could have told her to go to bed, instead he put a blanket over her and pulled her in close to him. He knew could have told her to sleep, even if it was on the love seat. Then the two of them began to watch the movie. After her past week, maybe this was something she needed.

"Feeling better?" He asked Tracy.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Kinda, I guess. Haven't ran for the bathroom for ten minutes or so. Barely made it over the bridge and almost didn’t make it home."

"I heard.. Food poisoning is not a fun experience." William said with a nod. “But is your stomach feeling queasy?”

“Yeah.” Tracy said. “But each time I lay down, I gotta get up, so I’ve just stayed up. Plus the cramps in my belly hurt.”

“Tell you what. For tonight, we’ll say midnight is your bedtime. Just lean back and take it easy.” William said to her as he put an arm around her.

No more than five minutes later, Tracy bolted from the living room and she raced through the kitchen. He could hear the sounds of her getting sick once more. This was going to be a long night for her.

~o~O~o~

William heard Frank coming down the stairs and he sat up and realized that the T.V. was still on. His daughter was resting against his side, and a blanket covered both of them. In front of him was the giant window and a crack in the curtain showed that the sun was not ready to show itself just yet.

“Hey.” William whispered. “Is it five already?”

“Almost five thirty. I noticed the T.V. was on, so I stayed upstairs for a while. I just need to get my coffee.” Frank replied. “Maggie is getting out of the shower about now.”

“I should wake sleeping beauty and have her get up to bed.” William said to him.

“Yeah. But I wouldn’t let her sleep in today.” Frank said. “Be a fight to get her back to bed tonight.”

“Tonight I’ll put my foot down. No sitting up watching TV.” William said. “But from the time I came down, she used the bathroom at least ten times before I went to sleep.”

“Yeah. Think she got it here?” Frank asked.

“I think it was that lunch. I had some of her stuff and it tasted a bit off. I didn't eat much of it, thankfully.” He gently shook Tracy’s arm. “Hey kiddo. Get up and get ready to go to your own bed. Everyone is getting up for the day.”

William got up and stretched his back as his daughter got up and headed for the bathroom. She wasn’t running, nor has she said anything about an accident. So the food poisoning had run its course, or so he hoped. A few minutes passed and he heard his wife coming down the stairs.

As Tracy came out of the bathroom, Maggie was passing the couch. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” She said, nodding her head.

“We’ll I’m off to work. You be good to your Aunt and Father.”

“I will, mom.” Tracy said as she stretched then headed up the stairs

“Will, did she sleep down here?” Maggie asked him. “Shelly said it was okay.”

“Yeah. She was down here at eleven, watching some British comedy movie. I was gonna send her to bed, but she was crying half the time from the pain in her stomach. She ran to the bathroom over ten times in the hour I was awake.” William said as the sounds of his daughter’s footsteps could be heard going to her bed. “Next thing I knew, Frank was coming down the steps a few minutes ago.”

“You slept down here then?” She asked.

“Not out of choice. Just got into making sure she didn’t make much noise.” William stated. “Then I fell asleep.”

“Well, I’d keep her from sleeping too long. She already got five hours.” Maggie said to him.

“I know.” William replied. “Off to work?”

“In a few. I wanted to get something to eat first.” Maggie said as she headed for the kitchen.

~o~O~o~

William was moving around the house when Tracy came back down the stairs. It was just a bit past eight in the morning. She had showered and was feeling a lot better then she had the night before. As she got to the table, she noticed her father was looking at want ads in the daily paper.

“Hey Daddy. Any luck?” Tracy as she passed the table to go get some eggs to eat.

“Not yet, but a lot of good places to start.” He said, still looking at the want ads.

“You know....” Shelly said, peeking her head out from the kitchen. “There is a temp agency in town. They have all sorts of jobs that you can do. Go down tomorrow. Easier to take time to go to Disney.”

“Plus Sometimes those places are the only way into a good job.” William replied.

Tracy poked her head out from the kitchen. “Really? Why?”

“This way the company doesn’t have to have someone doing interviews. They have an outside company do that and they keep who they like. It really saves money.” William stated.

“Sounds weird.” Tracy said as she started cooking her eggs.

~o~O~o~

March 8th

Tracy found herself in the doctor’s office once more that week. The doctor had been out of the office the week before, due to a death in the family. So this had been the soonest Maggie was able to slip her in. Tracy’s emotions were back in check, but Maggie was still worried. But since she had work, This left William as the one to take her.

“Patterson? Tracy?”

“Come on kiddo.” William said as the two of them stood up.

They got into the back and Tracy was left to change, before having her height and weight recorded. Then William and her sat in the room and waited for the doctor to come in.

“Hello young lady. I heard you have a not so fun night on Sunday?” Doctor Addams said as he entered the room.

“Tracy nodded at him and looked to her bare feet, which were swinging off the edge of the bed. “Yeah. Got sick and couldn’t stop going to the bathroom.”

“She got food poisoning.” William told the doctor. “Was late in the evening, but we think it came from where we ate lunch at.”

“Now since Maggie called last week, I doubt this meeting today was for that? Care to enlighten me?” Doctor Addams asked

William nodded. “It’s like this, Doctor. Tracy got that shot from you in February. Then the first week of March, her emotions were all over the board. Like crying at cat food commercials, and crying at old sad songs. It was worse then around the time you gave her the shot.”

“Interesting.” Doctor Addams said. “Tracy, If I recall, your last lab test showed a lot of testosterone in you. I’d like to draw more blood for another test. To test your levels again.” He paused for a moment. “Has she been moody past few days?”

“Just when dealing with her food poisoning.” William answered.

“Hmmm. That’s to be expected. For now let me get another test ran and then we can figure out what in the world is going on.”

~o~O~o~

Her Tai chi class was over and Tracy was tired once more. Her father had taken her this time, so he could spend time alone with her and bond. Vance was at home, hopefully doing the homework he had ignored until dinner.

He sat in the chairs meant for the parents as his daughter came jogging over. She paused at the edge of the mat, turned and bowed, then she turned again continued to him.

“I got some light cleaning to do. Be about half an hour or so. Is it okay?” Tracy asked him.

“Sweetie, you agreed to it. I won’t stop you from paying off a debt. So go ahead. I’ll sit here and wait. At first he sat in the chair as Tracy cleaned. Then he got up and went over to her and started to help. It began with sweeping and moving mats. After that came the light dusting of the studio. William promised himself that with as hard as she worked, she was getting something special on the way home.

~o~O~o~

Friday March 11th 1983

It was just after nine in the morning when the phone rang and Shelly moved to answer it. “Hello, Coppers residence. Yes. Yes he is here.” She held the phone away from her face and looked to William. “Will, it’s one of the temp places.”

Tracy looked up from her school work as her father answered the phone. “Yes, this is William.” He said. “Yes. I can be there in about thirty minutes. Bring my certificate? I can do that. Really? That’s great!” William said his goodbye and hung up the phone. He went to Tracy who was now watching him.

“They hired you?” Tracy asked. She had gotten used to him being at home every day. In fact in a little while, she was going to make lunch for the three of them. Part of her didn’t want him to return to work.

“Well, one group has, it looks like. Starting out, but at least I can start on a forklift.” He bent down and kissed her forehead.

“Okay. I hope it works out.” She said glumly.

“Hey, be happy for me. We need this so we can find our own place, one close to your friends.” He said.

“I know. Just got used to you here all the time.” Tracy said, they she sighed. “Good luck.”

“I’ll be back, kiddo.” William said, before he kissed her forehead once more.

She watched as he ran up the stairs. About five minutes later, he came back down, dressed nicely. His certifications for forklift driving in his hands. He headed for the door. “Be back later.” He called as he went out the door.

Shelly watched as Tracy just sat there, watching the door and ignoring the schoolwork she had. “Tracy, you know he was going to get a job, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. I was enjoying our time together.” Tracy replied. “Finally it was him and I, not just Him, Vance and sometimes me.” She sighed again. “I know they need money to pay bills.”

“Hey now. I hear he is planning on taking you to your class, just you and him one of the two nights in a week. So you’re not losing time with him. Just have to wait.”

~o~O~o~

Saturday March 12th 1983

Tracy had come to Big Mama’s deli with her mother who was killing time till William could join them. Both William and Vance had gone to do some quick shopping that was needed for Will’s new job. Shirts and pants mostly. After that William had taken Vance to a sporting goods store to check out camping gear.

Tracy had been happy to see Mr. Leone in there when she arrived. Currently he was busy in the office with his mother. Tracy had spoken to him for a short time, but Beth seemed to hover nearby as she did. But for now, as she waited on her family, she was alone in the booth, just her and her magazines on current music acts.

Maggie was taking care of a personal errand at another business, and that left Tracy there in a booth, keeping it held for them. From the booth behind her, Tracy could smell the alcohol on the man who sat there. And it was worse for Eva who was busy walking around and cleaning. Each time she would pass by, he would harass her.

After the man ignored Eva’s requests to stop patting her ass, Tracy finally snapped. She shut her magazine and huffed out a breath. She slid out of the seat as Eva was walking past and stepped in the way, not wishing to catch his arm, but to stop him from harassing her friend. Anthony had been coming back from the office and was about to act himself, but Tracy moved faster.

The man’s hand stopped as it made contact with Tracy's crotch and she gasped. Then she screamed and her hand gripped his wrist, and her other hand lashed out, slapping the man in the face.

“What the hell!” The man’s face went dark red. He brought his arm back, in an attempt to strike Tracy.

“Hold it right there!” A voice called from the door. Tracy glanced to see the cops from the week before, Officer Maki and Billings.

“Mister, we were walking in as you had your hand on the crotch of an eleven year old girl.” Officer Maki said. “You really think you can explain yourself out of this one?”

"Back off pigs! You don't wanna mess with me!" The man growled out. He reached out to grab Tracy, but she hopped backwards.

They kept moving forward. Officer Maki wasn’t ready for it, neither was officer Natasha Billings. The man seemed to get pissed when he saw the cops. He turned and punched officer Maki in the face, his fist cracking the cop’s nose in one hit. Then he kicked out catching Natasha in the gut and pushing her into a nearby table.

“Now for you, you little bitch! No one hits me.” He said as he turned to face Tracy. "And definitely not a snot nose little bitch."

His arm went back, but her training came into play. She brought up her arms and deflected the first punch as Andrew and Eva moved to save her, but the next second proved that she didn’t need their help.

Tracy kicked out, her foot having to go up higher than normal to connect with his crotch, but as it did, it got the response she wanted. He staggered, screamed out and dropped to one knee. After that she pressed her attack, throwing two kicks, both aimed for his face, one connected with his nose, the other with his cheek. She stepped forward and launched a knife hand jab to his throat as officer Maki was getting to his feet again. Officer Billings had come up and put her arms around Tracy and pulled him backwards, so her attack missed him by inches. Officer Maki, Andrew Leone and Eva all jumped the drunk man. Thankfully there were few people in the deli, but the ones who were there were stunned from the turn of events. Mostly it had just been a few groups of women. Each of them were slowly coming to their senses now.

~o~O~o~

William found his daughter sitting at the booth and he had just seen his wife in the bakery, so he slid into the seat and put an arm around his daughter’s shoulder. She was down. Worse then she had been at home. And while Vance was busy at the convenience store, using his allowance money on candy for that night, he had a few minutes..

“Hey, you okay?” He asked as he wrapped her in a hug.

Before she could answer, someone stepped up and put his hands on the table. It was the shadow of a man looming over him that got him to look up. “Mister, get your hands off my godchild” Mr. Leone said through clenched teeth and with an Italian accent. He stood next to the table, glaring at William.

“Mr. Leone, its fine, this is my Daddy.” Tracy said with a smile.

“He is?” Tony kept his gaze on William, waiting for a response.

“I am, and I don’t recall Tracy having another godparent." William said with a bigger smile. He looked to his daughter. “can you explain how this happened?”

“We’ve had a fun day so far.”

“Is He really your Dad?” Eva asked Tracy, from her place behind the counter. In her hands, she held a phone.

“Yep. And that’s Vance, my brother.” She pointed to the window, where Vance was coming in from street.

“Well, in that case....You just missed the cops.” Eva said.

“The cops?” Is Tracy in trouble?”

“Tracy isn’t. But the guy who grabbed your daughter's crotch is having some explaining to do.” Eva said, trying not to laugh.

"What?!? Who grabbed Tracy’s crotch!?!" For Tracy, it was scary to see how fast her father could go from happy to angry.

Eva, and Mr. Leone went into a quick telling of what happened. And William just sat there, shaking his head.

“So he grabbed Tracy by mistake?” William asked.

“Not mistake, as much as your daughter intercepted his hand, and he got her fist in his face and some local cops saw it. They got a bit roughed up by him, he was drunk. Then he turned on Tracy. I was going to defend her, but I didn’t need to.” Mr. Leone said. “I must admit, I was going to do the same, but Tracy beat me to the punch. Literally.”

Maggie came in and the story was shared once more. She looked to her daughter. “Wow, you had all your allotted excitement for the month, haven’t you?”

Tracy giggled. “Yep.” She looked over to Andrew, who was sitting at the counter. “Please Mr. Leone? You could pull a table over....”

“Tracy, I’d be taking three seats from Beth and its the later lunch hour, so no. I can still talk, from the counter, but for now, I will let you all eat in peace. Besides, I have paperwork to do and I’m going to use mother’s office.”

As William, Maggie, Vance and Tracy sat there, enjoying their meal, the cops started to come in.

“Hey Tracy.” They called to the young girl.

Tracy waved at them and smiled. “Hi Officer Paulson. Hi Officer Hernandez.”

“Maggie.” Officer Paulson said.

“Hello John, Rosa, I want you both to meet my husband, William. And the boy is our oldest, Vance."

“Maggie, Officer Maki asked us to get Tracy’s statement. No problems with that, is there?”

"Nope. None at all." Maggie replied.

~o~O~o~

March 14th

“Excuse me, are you Maggie Patterson?” A voice asked her from the other side of the counter. She looked to see a tall black man, standing at over six foot tall there, and wearing a police uniform.

“I am, can I help you?” Maggie asked the dark skinned cop standing in the bakery.

“I’d like to speak to you about your daughter. Tracy is your daughter, right?”

“Yes she is. Is there a problem? I’m guessing this is about Saturday?”

“In a way, yes. We had to do a check into Tracy's schooling. Well, Officer Hernandez did say she called the school and checked it out, but I just wanted to make sure that you know that someone had complained that there was a child here during school hours.” Captain Hill said. “Of course, it was the same man who grabbed your daughter. But he’s already in trouble for public intoxication and assault of a police officer. Assault of a minor. But I wanted you to know he made a complaint to us and threatened to call CPS. I’ve spoken to CPS on your behalf.

“Are we in trouble?” Maggie asked. “Because I was under the impression that It was up to us on how to teach her, as long as she learned from the subject matter that the school district said she needed to know. She does put in many hours, daily, in different subject...Plus the fact his attack of my daughter was a Saturday. No school that day.”

“Well, Tracy is home-schooled, but there is no rules stating that home schooled children must remain at home. Officer Paulson and his partner did say they checked it out and spoke to Tracy's lawyers. Plus you are right. It was a Saturday. CPS decided to let the case drop without much hassle.”

"Good. I'm getting tired of her being attacked and she has to pay the price in the end." Maggie said to him.

~o~O~o~

March 15th

Tracy looked up from her homework and saw a tall black man standing there with a nice uniform and markings the others didn’t have. Behind him were Officer Paulson and Officer Hernandez. “I’m not in trouble, am I?” She knew her aunt had answered the door, she just wasn’t expecting to see three cops in the apartment.

“Not at all, young lady.” The Black man answered.

“Tracy, this is Captain Hill.” Rosa said.

“Captain? Like a Military captain?” Tracy asked. So far in her life, she had only met a few black people, Natasha being one of them. But this man seemed not too happy to be there.

“Rank is about the same concept, but as a Captain, it means that I am in command of these young people here.” Captain Hill said to her. “I’m the Captain of the Livermore police department.”

“Please, have a seat, if you can.” Shelly said to them.

“Now I’ve spoken to your mother yesterday, and I have personally stopped a complaint from the man who attacked you and Officers Maki and Billings. He tried to call CPS on you. But don’t worry. He didn’t get far. As for you, he threatened to sue, but that had been taken away and you won’t have to worry about him. Not that you couldn’t handle him.”

What he didn’t tell her, at the request of her mother, was that the man who had attacked her and the officers was in a prison hospital. After his attack, prisons found out and he had been beaten within an inch of his life. This had happened just after his visit to Maggie the day before. Currently he lay attached to machines, trying to keep him alive for the court appearances. He knew Tracy had trained in some kind of martial art, but he also knew she was lucky. The man had been wanted for a string of other crimes, mostly assault and one of them had been one of his own child. He knew she had been very lucky. But her mother asked them to downplay it and not tell her too many details.

“So I’m not in trouble?”

“:Well, not really. You did defend yourself. But next time, let the police deal with the bad guys, okay?” Captain Hill said to her with a smile. “They do get paid to stop criminals. Be a bit unfair if you did their work and they didn’t have to do anything.”

She smiled back. “I will. But I will defend myself too.”

“I understand.” Captain hill said as he stood up.

“Do you all want something to eat? Maybe a snack bar or something?” Tracy asked.

“Like those caramel chocolate bars?” Officer Paulson asked.

“I tried something new. Wanna test them for me?”

~o~O~o~

Well, once more Tracy is moving along. Like with the others, I'll try to get to this story once a week, or once every two weeks. But for now I hope you enjoyed.