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New York City, NY The Reagan Home
One of many cop families in New York City were the Reagan's, the police commisioner Frank Reagan knew that all too well, his four children Danny, Joe, Erin, and Jamie were all involved in law enforcement either as police detectives, police officers, or the Assistant District Attorney. Joe had been deceased for several years but had been a police officer, his younger brother Jamie had followed in his footsteps though Erin was the ADA while Danny was a police detective.
Sunday dinners were a regular occurence after church at the home of Frank and Frank's father, Henry Reagan who had been the former police commisioner, allowing the older and younger generations to share stories which vary between funny and inspirational and bond better after a long week.
Usually these dinners had an unspoken restriction to their family, but sometimes Danny's partner on the force Jackie Curatola stopped in when they were working on a case and this was one of those occasions. Jackie walked into the dining room with a brown-haired and blue-eyed teenage boy looking down as he walked behind her, the long-haired brunette had warned her partner beforehand that she would be bringing a guest with her and he okayed it.
"And who's your little friend here?" asked Danny, he could see the nervous expression on the boy's face and resolved right then and there to make him feel welcome.
Jackie placed her arm around the short teenager who tried to bat her away but was unsuccessful. "This is my younger brother Jari, he's spending the week with me and I couldn't get a babysitter. I hope this is okay."
"If it wasn't okay, my husband wouldn't have told you it was." Danny's wife, Linda Reagan said with a reassuring smile. Danny and Linda had two sons, Jack and Sean who were both talking to Frank in the livingroom.
Jari then starts looking around the house and sees the family photos and a few shots of various members of the Reagan family in cop uniforms. "Is it true what my sister said? Everyone in this family is a cop?"
Jamie laughed at the teenager's question and nodded over to Erin and Erin's daughter, Nicky Reagan Boyle who were approaching them."Not everyone buddy, my sister Erin here is the Assistant District Attorney." he informed him.
"I get it, that means you put the handcuffs on the bad guys and she puts them away." Jari said.
Frank then announced that dinner was ready and everyone walked into the dining room and took their usual places, the man added in a few facts of his own upon noticing that Jari had taken a seat between Jackie and his daughter who was explaining about her job as an ADA and how it worked without going into detail on cases or anything.
After dinner, Jari was unsure what to do next until being invited by Nicky into the livingroom where Jamie, Jack, Sean, and herself were having a floor swimming race.
The floor swimming race turned out to be alot of fun and a great way for Jari to get know some members of the Reagan family, though the game had to end when Jackie told her younger brother that it was time to go. Jari couldn't help but be reluctant to leave his new friends, though Danny and Jackie did promise that they would see each other again soon enough.
***
Outside
Jari took his suitcase from the trunk of Jackie's car as his sister dropped him off with their parents days later, he and Jackie had always been close but short teenager didn't get to hang out with her too often due to his sister's busy schedule.
"This week flew by fast." commented Jari as he looked up at his older sister who gave him a soft smile.
Jackie pulled her younger brother into a hug despite his protests. "You know I've been meaning to spend more time with you Jari, it's just-"
"You have to work Jackie, I get it."
"Why don't I pick you up from school tomorrow? I have to work but you can have dinner at mine." Jackie said.
Jari eagerly agreed before hugging his sister goodbye and heading toward the house, sometimes he thought that she knew him better than their own parents.
For Valentine's Day, Erin had decided to take Nicky and Jari to the movies, she and her daughter had gotten to know the teen better due to Jackie being called into work and having to drop him off with them.
The two teens had hit it off well and formed a friendship, Nicky and Jari were in the same grade but barely knew each other until that Sunday dinner that Jackie brought the latter to.
Jari got his wish of being brought to work with Jackie weeks later since the latter hadn't been able to find a babysitter and Danny was there to greet them when they walked in, he had wanted to go explore but Jackie had instructed him to stay at her desk while she got some cases from the file room.
That afternoon, Jari had been waiting for his sister to bring lunch back and had gotten antsy and decided to wonder around the precinct.
Of course many police detectives and officers saw him but they paid him no notice, Jari soon made his way to the higher floors and almost bumped into a short-haired blond woman named Abigail Baker who happened to be the police commisioner's primary assistant. Baker asked for his name and why he was there and Jari answered before nervously asking if he was in trouble.
Baker said that it wasn't up to her before taking him to the police commissioner's office, she then told Frank about the teenager before heading back to her desk.
Jari quickly took his seat when Frank motioned him to and nodded as the man gave him a small lecture about wandering about the precinct and the possibility of him getting lost before radioing Jackie to let her know of his whereabouts, there was a certain level of sternness that accompanied the police commisioner and made Jari not want to cross the man.
It took about fifteen minutes before Jackie showed to pick up her brother, she had consulted with their parents before coming and Jari had gotten grounded.
***
The Reagan Home
Jari had been more than a bit surprised when Danny had brought Panda Express for him, Jack, and Sean to eat, due to having to work a late shift, Linda wouldn't be joining them. It had actually been Jack and Sean's idea for Jari to sleepover, the duo had began to consider the latter like an older brother figure.
"We should go out back and play basketball after this." suggested Jack as his plate of food was almost gone.
Jari nodded at the younger boy who wore glasses. "That sounds like a cool idea."
"I bet we could even get my dad to play."
"No harm in asking."
Jack chuckled after finishing the last of his food and then tugged on the older boy's wrist. "Let's go ask him."
"You know he might not want to." Jari pointed out.
That night, the brothers and Jari decided to stay up all night and watch movies but as the clock struck midnight, the only two up were Sean and Jari who agreed to see how many more movies they could watch before crashing. Danny walked into Jack's room at around three am and saw his sons and Jari asleep in their respective sleeping bags, he then turned the still playing movie off before chuckling to himself and turning to go back to bed.
***
The Reagan Home Dining Room
April 1st rolled around and Jari had been invited to Sunday dinner by the Reagan's, Jackie had other plans and hadn't been able to make it this time but she did arrange for him to go with Danny, Linda, and their boys, he had started getting more comfortable around the family and didn't mind going by himself.
Everyone finished their food in no time and were sitting around the dining room table talking, Jari had decided to take the seat closest to Frank who was at the head of the table and next to Erin.
"I thought it was real." said Jari referring to an earlier prank by Nicky that involved a dollar hooked onto a fishing rod that he had gone after.
Jamie high-fived his niece who was sitting next to him. "Nice one."
"Thank you." Nicky said with a grin towards her friend. "Don't tell me that you're still mad."
"You're mean." Jari mumbled, he was itching to get back at her but knew that it wasn't the best time.
"Come on buddy, we're just poking fun." Jamie assured him.
Henry cleared his throat which stopped the laughing at Jari's expense and turned everyone's attention to him. "I remember a little girl who used to pick the pockets of her uncles and use that money to buy candy for herself and cousins."
Jari laughed at the look on Nicky's face. "Is that true Mr. Reagan?"
"She was around four or five back then, Danny, Joe, and Jamie never realized where the money went until Erin finally filled them in." Henry said.
Jari decided to have a race with Jackie days later who had warned him that she was a fast runner because of having to pursue suspects on foot, the two raced down one of the non busy blocks and Jackie took pity on her brother and decided to let him win the first time.
That afternoon, the Reagans decided to have a volleyball game out back, Jari was on one team with Erin, Jamie, and Sean while the other team consisted of Danny, Linda, Nicky, and Jack. The game went on for long while with Danny, Jamie, and Nicky being the main power players for each team until Danny's team had more points by the time Linda checked her watch and reminded him that it was time to go.
Erin assured her team that they played a good game and that the other team would go down next game and Jari nodded as he followed the short-haired brunette inside the house, it still felt sucky to Jari since victory had been so close.
School was drama-filled the next day thanks to a short blond-haired teen named Heather Modern and Heather's group of friends, Heather stopped Jari who was leaving for lunch and asked the teen if he had a staring problem which confused him since his eyes been looking at the floor. Not having a chance of reiterating that point to Heather, the girl led her friends off with her reasoning being so that Jari couldn't stare to her.
***
Jackie's Car
Rumors about him being the creepy guy had been spread by Heather and her friends leaving him to wear a mask of indifference to school for the next few weeks, Jari got into Jackie's car afterschool one afternoon and his older sister couldn't help but frown at him.
"Nicky told me that you've been avoiding her for awhile now, what's going on?" asked Jackie as she raised her eyebrows at her younger brother.
Jari just looked straight ahead, not wanting to talk about his problems. "Nothing."
"You know that you can talk to me about anything Jari."
"Everything's fine Jackie."
Jackie refused to let this matter drop and continued pressing him. "I noticed that this mood of yours only seems to start before you leave for school, is that it? Someone's picking on you?"
"Please don't get involved with this, you'll just make things worse." Jari said, not wanting to let on how close his sister was to the truth.
Jari had just finished his homework that evening when he heard someone knocking on the door, the teen went to answer it and was a bit surprised to see Nicky standing on the porch since neither Jackie or himself had been expecting anyone.
Guilt pooled in Jari's stomach as his friend made it clear that she knew about Heather and the rumors and was disappointed in him for not telling her what was going on, he apologized and then the duo started scheming and came up with a plan to counteract the rumors against him.
The plan was put in motion the next morning with Nicky going to two of her more gossipy friends and telling them the truth about Heather's rumors, alot of people were disgusted as the news spread and Heather became the new object of scorn by lunchtime.
Heather's friends stopped him before he could walk to Erin's car afterschool and apologized for the rumors though Jari doubted it was sincere and continued walking with Nicky without responding. Neither Nicky or Jari brought up the apology while in Erin's car and instead talked about their 'crazy' homework assignment, Heather's friends had been safely put out of their minds.
After getting permission from Danny and Jackie, Jack and Sean had Jari in tow as they walked to the park in order to play a pick-up game of basketball.
There was an uneven number of people causing Jari to alternate being on either team with the younger boys, Jack was confident in being able to beat two people but managed to lose every game that his younger brother and Jari teamed up in.
The basketball game ended a few minutes before the sun went down and the trio were just about to walk home when a car pulled up, Jari shared a look of relief with the Reagan brothers upon noticing that it was only Linda.
***
The Reagan Home
Jackie had agreed to letting Jari stay the night so once Linda drove them home, the three of them had dinner and then either played video games or watched TV until they got sleepy. A tired Jari was walking to the guest room when he ended up falling asleep in the hallway and was woken up for what seemed like minutes later by Jack and Sean.
"You fell asleep in the hall." explained Jack as his friend looked up at him confusion.
Jari looked around and realized that they were in the hallway. "I did?"
"Don't feel bad, Jack's done that a couple of times too." Sean said.
Jack glared at his younger brother. "So have you Sean!"
"No I haven't!"
The argument between Jack and Sean continued for a few minutes with Jari watching in a mixture of shock and amusement.
"My Dad's going to be mad if he comes home and we're still up." Jack said as he glanced at his brother and Jari.
"I wouldn't want to tick off your Dad." Jari said.
Baseball had always been an okay game for Jari but he had never been a uber fan or anything, though the teen accepted Jamie's offer to take him to a game weeks later, opportunities like that didn't come by too often and he wasn't going to miss out.
Jari heard the man honk the horn outside and quickly put on his baseball cap before hugging his sister goodbye and all but running to Jamie's car and getting inside so they could get going.
They arrived at the game with time to spare and the vendor kept them supplied with hotdogs and drinks, it was alot of fun with Jari following the lead of Jamie and the crowd when it was time to cheer for the team. Once the game ended that afternoon, both were raving about it as they walked out of the stadium and towards the parking lot.
***
The Reagan Home
Jari had been dropped off with Erin who was keeping him for the night, the latter showed him to the guest room where he could put his belongings before the duo walked into the livingroom to put on movies.
"How did the game go?" asked Erin, she hadn't spent as much one-on-one time with Jari as her brothers or Linda.
Jari chuckled at the short-haired brunette. "I wasn't expecting to have as much fun as I did Erin."
"Jackie told me once that you didn't really follow baseball."
"I wouldn't say that."
Erin smirked at the teenager. "Then what would you say Jari?"
"I like baseball but I don't follow the games." Jari said.
Clothes shopping had turned into a bit of an annoyance for Jari since he had entered his teen years which is why he convinced his parents to allow him to go with Danny, Jack, and Sean that month instead, the only downside was Danny picking him up early that morning due to the man wanting to get it out of the way.
The quartet headed to the mall where most of the clothes picked out by the Reagan boys were vetoed by Danny who then got different ones for them, he couldn't help but laugh which earned him glares from both brothers while holding his own picked out clothes in hand.
They grabbed a quick lunch at the food court before leaving the mall that afternoon and getting into Danny's car, the black-haired man had asked Jari if he wanted to go home or if the teen wanted to stay at his with Linda and the boys for awhile. Seeing the Reagan brother's hopeful looks despite their earlier anger towards him, Jari agreed to go to Danny's.
***
Epilogue
Whether or not Jackie was around, Jari became very close to the Reagan family and he not only spent alot of time with them at family dinners and etc. but there were many sleepovers that alternated between Frank's, Danny's, Erin's, and even Jamie's(on occasion).
There was more to being a cop than just putting on a uniform, a fact that the Reagans taught him quite well. One of the main goals of law enforcement was to serve and protect, Danny had also mentioned that one of the most important traits for a cop to have was honor and integrity.
At the end of freshman year, Mr. Curatola got a job out of the state and informed him the family was moving that summer.
He didn't take the news very well and had ran away until being found by Danny and Jackie and taken back home where his parents scolded their son for his actions before sending him to his room.
The teen wasn't allowed to come down until later that day where his parents and Jackie explained that they had come to an agreement for him to live with his older sister year-round and stay with his parents during the summer. The first thing that he did after being ungrounded from running away was head for Erin's and share the news with Nicky, the two of them jumped and down like four year olds and jumped on Erin and the trio got tangled on the couch when the short-haired brunette tried to get them to stop.