Safe House Sequel: One Shots (Graceland FanFiction)

Midday Pick-Up

Mike tapped his pencil against the desk in the cubicle in the FBI office. His meeting had already been postponed that morning, and now the advisor on his new case was running behind once again, leaving Mike to feel as though his afternoon was being wasted. Mike's cell buzzed on the desk and his demeanor changed when he saw that it was Jessie's elementary school calling.

"Hello?"

"Is this Mike Barone? I'm the school nurse and I have Jessie here. We tried to call the number listed, but there was no answer, and she recited this one for me to try. We have a policy about who can pick up students from school- I'm sorry, I'm rambling and-"

"Is she ok?!" Mike asked, cutting the woman off. He stood up and walked away from the desk towards the hall. Did Jessie tell her he was her uncle? Did the woman just assume?

"Oh, yes, well... she has a fever and she didn't want to leave class, but it's our policy that anyone who could be contagious..."

"Contagious with what?!" Mike asked harshly, a list of possible scenarios racking through his brain.

"Oh, Mr. Barone, it's just a fever. It might be early stages of the flu, but, she's five. Surely she's been ill before. These kinds of things turn around in a few days."

"The flu?" Mike said, calming his voice. "Yeah, yeah, it's common, ok."

"But like I said, we need someone to come pick her up. This number isn't listed here, and she's only supposed to leave campus with listed contacts, but she knew this number and told me your name."

"She told you to call Mike Barone?" Mike asked, clarifying.

"Yes, and we need you to-"

"Of course," he said, reaching for his keys. "I've met with her teacher before. Can I... can I talk to Jessie for a moment?"

"One second," she said. Mike waited until he heard the phone get passed over.

A small voice crept onto the line. "Hello?"

"Hey, Jessie," Mike said sweetly. "I'll be there in a fifteen minutes."

"Mhmm," Jessie said softly, "I tried to call Paige, but she didn't answer and I told her Mike, but she didn't know..."

"Shhhh," Mike said to her, "Just don't say anything else until I get there, ok? I'll take care of it."

"Ok," she said. "I feel weird."

"I know you do," he said. He wasn't really sure how to respond to her. "I'll see you soon, ok? We'll fix it."

"Bye." He could hear that the phone was being passed to someone else.

"Mr. Barone?" the woman asked. Mike decided it wasn't worth correcting her. If she thought he was family, maybe he could legally sign her out of school without being listed on the form, something he made a mental note to correct in the future.

"I'll be there to get her in about fifteen minutes."

The woman hung up and Mike drove out of the parking lot, headed for the school. He knew Paige was under and didn't have her phone. What the hell was he supposed to do? Jessie had never been sick before. He hit the call button on the dashboard and told the voice command in the car to call Charlie.

"Mike?! You ok?" Charlie asked confused, knowing that he was supposed to be at a meeting.

"Hey! Jessie's school just called. She's sick. I'm on my way to get her. What time are you getting back to the house?"

"Late tonight. Is she ok?"

"She sounded pretty out of it on the phone. But Charlie, what am I supposed to do with her?"

"Really, Mike?" Charlie asked, trying to suppress a laugh. "Make her drink juice and give her some of that children's tylenol. Let her sleep and make sure she doesn't puke all over the place."

"We have medicine for her?"

"Yeah, it's in the cabinets in the kitchen. It's been there for months, just in case."

"How much do I-?"

"Just read the box, Mike. You'll be fine. Call me if you have any problems."

"Thanks, Charlie."

Mike took advantage of his status to swerve around other drivers on the highway, getting to the school faster than he had expected.

He quickly got out of his car and made his way to the sign-in desk at the front of the lobby, writing in the book sloppily so that his last name was illegible. The secretary gave him a visitor pass and pointed the way to the nurse's office.

When he got to the marked room, he knocked and slowly pushed the door open.

His eyes quickly scanned the space, finding Jessie curled up on a chair almost instantly.

"Jessie?" Mike asked gently. The woman behind the desk came over to him, introducing herself. Mike just introduced himself as "Mike" and focused his attention on the little girl. He reached down to her and lifted her off the chair. She latched her hands behind his neck, and he could immediately tell that she felt hot.

"Thanks again for coming to get her," the nurse said.

Mike gave her a pleasant smile. "Of course," he said. He took a step back and grabbed Jessie's backpack off of the floor. "I think I just need to get her home."

"Feel better, Jessie," the woman said. Mike stepped back into the hall, feeling relieved that they were going to let him sign her out without waiting for an ok from Paige first, and walked back to the lobby.

"Mikeyyyy," Jessie whispered in his ear. "What's happening to me?"

"Shhh," he said, returning his visitor pass to the desk. "You're gonna be ok. Do you ever remember being sick before?"

"Nope..." she said, anxiety creeping into her voice.

"Alright," he said, walking out of the building. He rubbed circles on her back as he walked to the car and then carefully sat her in the backseat, helping her with the seatbelt.

Mike ran through the checklist of things that Charlie had mentioned earlier as he drove. "Jessie?" he asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror to get her attention. "Does your stomach feel sick? Do you think you might puke?"

Jessie looked up at him pitifully and shrugged her shoulders.

He debated asking her the other big question. "So, why did you call me Mike Barone?"

Jessie looked nervous. "She- she said I had to call family. I'm sorry I lied..."

"No, it's ok..." Mike said, exhaling. "We'll make sure all 6 of us are on there."

Mike drove a bit faster and felt relieved when they made it back to Graceland. He got out of the car and walked around to the other side, opening the back passenger door where Jessie was. She pulled the seatbelt off and turned to face him, but as she slid down off the seat, she took in a large breath of air.

Not understanding how she felt, the little girl wasn't able to stop the nausea in her stomach. She paused and then threw her body forward, hurling. The vomit hit Mike's feet, covering his shoes before he had time to react and jump back.

He kicked off his shoes and abandoned them in the driveway. After checking that she didn't have any puke on her (and that she wasn't going to vomit again), he lifted her up once more and brought her inside the house, wincing as he felt her bury her face in his shoulder. He tried his best to ignore the stench, along with the feeling that some of the puke may have made it to his toes.