Grant's POV
It's been about 2 weeks since Johnathan was kidnapped and I can tell he is struggling with dealing with it. I called the school psychologist and asked if they could meet with him to see what things would be helpful for him that we could do at home and when she called me back, she said she believes he would benefit from seeing a therapist a couple times a week. She gives me the names and phone numbers of a few that she would recommend and after I get off the phone with her I call and make an appointment. I will do whatever I have to in order to help my kids.
It's a Tuesday morning and I don't have to work so I'm doing things around the house and getting caught up on the bills, when I get a phone call from the school
"Hello?" I answer in a growl, expecting it to be the principal because that is usually who calls, which means one of two of the kids in school are in trouble.
"Hi, this is Holly Winterfield, the nurse at your son's elementary school. I'm calling because Johnathan was brought to my office, with difficulty breathing. We did some calm breathing exercises and he is calmed down now, but he wanted to talk to you, are you able to speak with him?" she asks.
"Yes, of course. I will always be able to speak with my kids," I tell her, more rudely than I intended but I didn't appreciate how she asked me that.
"Daddy, I wanna come home," I hear my son cry on the other end of the line.
"Bud, the day just started, you don't think you can stay just a bit longer?" I ask, I will go pick him up if he really can't handle it, but I have picked him up early from school about 5 times out of the 7 days that he has been in school since he was kidnapped. I want to have him try to stick it out if he can.
"I can't, I had an accident, I need new clothes. "Please daddy, can you just come bring me home?" he cries.
"Okay Bud, I'll be there in a few minutes with new pants and you can take a shower when you get home. I'll see you soon. Keep doing those breathing exercises, breathing in for a count of 4, holding for a count of 2, breathing out for a count of 4, and holding for a count of 2. Keep doing that until I get there, okay?" I tell him.
"Yes daddy, but please hurry, I need you," I can tell he is almost in another panic attack and I have already grabbed my keys and am in the truck. As I'm driving to the school. I talk him through the breathing exercise and I arrive at the school and we hang up.
When he sees me, when I walk into the nurses office, he runs to me and hugs me and won't let me go. I hand him the pants I brought him,
"Here are your pants bud, go change so we can head home," I tell him.
He shakes his head no, "I don't wanna go in the bathroom alone, can you come with me and help me?" he says into my stomach, as he is still hugging me and won't let go.
"Okay," I say and go help my oldest son change his pants and we head to my truck to head home.
All the way home he is crying, but I can tell he is doing his breathing exercise and I just reach back with my hand and allow him to hold it. I feel so helpless seeing my boy like this.
When we get home, he wants me to carry him into the house. I do and bring him to the bathroom. I ask him if he wants me to get him his pajamas or if he just wants to change back into the pants that I had brought him, he says he wants his pajamas. I make sure the water is at the right temperature and go to get his pajamas as he gets undressed and gets in the shower. I put them on the counter and hang up a fresh towel for when he gets out and then I go downstairs to start a load of laundry.
After Johnathan is finished with his shower, he comes down and I put a guided meditation tape on and we both lay down on the couch to listen to it, and before I know it, my phone is ringing......
Katrina's POV
It's been really hard since John has been kidnapped. I'm so glad that we got him back and as a big sister, I want to protect him as much as I can. I got caught skipping school one day because I was so panicked about him getting kidnapped again that I felt the need to be at his school rather than attend mine. Thankfully, dad understood and I only got a hand spanking, but he warned me that if I did it again I would be in deep trouble. I haven't done it since.
I know dad is home today. He didn't have to work, but I still have to pick up Johnathan from school and Joshua up from the police daycare. It was an early release day for me because the basketball players have to practice for the championship.
I wait outside for several minutes, noticing that most of the kids have already been picked up. Dad told me that he would call the school to let them know that I would be picking Johnathan up at dismissal time and he shouldn't go to the after school program. I wait in the car for another couple minutes before going into the school to see where he is. I don't see him in the pick up line. I start to get worried when I go to the office and I still don't see him.
I really start to panic when I go to the classroom that he usually is in for the after school program and he isn't there either. I have no idea where he is at. I return to my car and immediately call dad, and his phone goes straight to voicemail. WTF! I know I'm supposed to pick up Joshua, but I'm going home first.
I get home and I storm into the house and I see my dad and Johnathan laying on the couch and dad is just waking up.
"WHAT THE FUCK!? YOU HAD HIM HERE THE WHOLE TIME, YOU ASSHOLE!!" I yell as he stands up, I take my backpack and I throw it at him and it almost hits him in the face before he is able to block it with his hand and sit it down on the floor.
I crumble down to the floor and start sobbing. I feel strong arms picking me up off the floor and wrapping themselves around me. Dad hugs me tight for several minutes.
"I was so worried that John was kidnapped again, I went to pick him up and he wasn't at the school, you never even signed him out at the office, or called me to tell me you picked him up. I was so worried!" I cried into his chest as he continues to hug me.
"I'm so so sorry, I forgot. He was having a panic attack at school and I just was thinking about getting him home and trying to calm him down. I'm so sorry bunny. I should have called," dad say soothingly.
I calm down to sniffles as I go over to Johnathan, who just saw my own meltdown, and I give him a hug, as he starts to cry too, thinking that this was all his fault.
"I'm sorry Sissy, please don't be mad at daddy, I needed to come home," he cried while I gave him a hug.
"It's okay, bud," I reassure him.
"Where is Joshua?" dad asks.
"I didn't pick him up yet, I came straight here. I tried calling you before I left John's school but your phone went straight to voicemail, so rushed home," I said starting to get angry again.
"My phone went straight to voicemail?" dad asked confused.
"Well, when I called it didn't ring and I got you voice saying to leave a message so I'm assuming that it went straight to your voicemail," I sassed.
"Watch the attitude Katrina," he warned as he went and grabbed his phone off the coffee table and tried to turn it on. "Damn it, it died," he says as he goes and puts it on the charger, and I just roll my eyes.
"I'm going to pick up Joshua now, I want you to pick up your backpack that you threw at me, go to the kitchen and do your homework. Johnathan, you can go into the kitchen with Katrina and do your packet work, also. When I get back home, Katrina, you and I are going to have a discussion about respect and throwing things at people, understand?" dad said in a firm tone.
"Yes sir," I replied. Now that the adrenaline wore off and I know Johnathan is okay, I realize that I yelled, swore, and threw my backpack at my dad, I should probably enjoy sitting at the table doing homework now, because once dad is done with my ass, I'm not going to want to sit.
Johnathan comes over and climbs into my lap. "Is daddy going to spank you?" he asks me as he cuddles close to me.
"Probably, but I'll be okay. I shouldn't have thrown my backpack, yelled, and swore at him. Let's not disobey him and let's do our homework, okay?" I ask as I reach for my backpack and take out my math book, and he puts his packet on the table.
We are still working, when dad walks in with a crying Joshua, "Go stand in the corner, until I tell you, you can come out," dad says and swats Joshua's bottom as he goes to the corner. Dad goes gets his phone and turns it on and realizes that he missed 5 messages from the daycare that Joshua had been misbehaving all day. He isn't happy. He comes into the kitchen and begins making dinner. Johnathan and I continue to work as dad puts chicken in the oven and goes deals with Joshua. They come down after a while and dad puts on a movie for Joshua and he tells Johnathan he can be done working on the homework packet and to go watch the movie with Joshua, while he and I have a talk. I doubt I'm going to only get a talking to, but we can hope?....
Grant's POV
I really messed up. As I saw Johnathan in the nurses office in another panic attack, I just knew I needed to get him home and needed to get him calmed down. I didn't even think about signing him out in the office, believing that the nurse would do that, considering she was the one that called and considering she was the one that saw me taking him home. I know I shouldn't assume something like that and from now on, I won't be doing that. I'm really hoping that these panic attacks stop soon and that he will be able to stay in school for the whole day without needing to come home or have me pick him up if I'm working.
Having my cellphone die is something that I never let happen so I don't know how it did. I have to look into why it died, I had it on the charger all night and barely used it today so it should have still had plenty of charge. The fact that the daycare tried calling me because my son was acting up really upset me.
Then realizing that Katrina had her own meltdown because I didn't call her, she couldn't find her brother where he was supposed to be, not being able to get through to me, I feel mixed emotions.
I took care of Joshua and then started a movie for the boys as I went into the kitchen to talk to Katrina and finish cooking dinner.
"I'm sorry that I threw my backpack, yelled, and swore at you. I was really worried about Johnathan," Katrina said from the table, not looking up from her math textbook.
I put the rice cooker on and went and sat down next to her.
"I'm sorry that I didn't call you and that my phone was dead so you didn't have a way to know that he was safe. If all you did was come in screaming, I probably would have just given you a hand spanking, if you came in screaming and cursing, I would have probably have just given you a hand spanking and soap for swearing. You threw something, that almost hit my in the face. Put you math book back in your backpack and let's go into the bathroom for a minute. I want to weigh your bag," I tell her as I stand up and she looks at me confused, but obeys me and does as I told her to do.
I take her backpack and I put it on the scale. I don't know how or why high schoolers have such big textbooks, but when I place her bag on the scale to weigh it, it weighs 12 pounds.
"You threw a 12 pound bag at me, in anger. What would have happened if I would have been able to block it with my hand, and it hit me in the face or head. I could have been seriously hurt. Worse yet, what would have happened if Johnathan would have gotten up and it would have hit him?" I ask her.
I see tears in her eyes and her lip quivering. I sigh, as I pull her into another hug. This is so difficult. I have 3 kids that are traumatized and I have to deal with each of them differently, but also keep things in the house running as normal as possible.
I hear the timer going off for the rice and the chicken so I pull away from the hug.
"After we are done eating, you and I are going to go upstairs and finish this conversation, understand?"
"Yes sir," she replies and we head back to the kitchen.
She sets the table without being asked and soon I'm pausing the movie so the boys can come eat dinner, promising them that they can finish their movie after dinner.
After dinner, I ask Johnathan to do put the dishes in the dishwasher and to rinse out the pan and told Katrina to go upstairs to wait for me, I would be up in a few minutes.