the kennedy's daughter

field trip

December 20, 1978

Washington D.C.

"Jacqueline Kate, hurry up your going to be late!"

"Daddy I'm coming" Kate yelled running down the stairs

"I've got to get my soccer bag out of the garage!" 

"I'm going to crank the car, meet me!"

"Ok, I'll be right there!"

Quickly Kate opened the garage door and ran to get in the car with her father, looking down at the clock on the dash.

"See daddy, just on time you worry to much" She informed her father pointing to the clock numbers that shown in bright green

The ride was short, and once Kate was getting out of the car with her soccer bag, Jack kissed her goodbye

"I love you daddy"

"I love you too Katie, have fun on your trip!"

"I will" she said closing the door car door behind her

Quickly Kate ran onto the bus and found her seat next to Matt.

"Matthew Hayes?" Matt looked up

"Here"

"Jenna Howard?"

No answer

"Lucky" Kate said looking at Matt

"Kate Kennedy"

"Here"

And roll went on and on, and finally the bus pulled out and got on the road.

——

Meanwhile Jack was at work trying to focus on what he was doing. For some odd reason all the people outside his office where awful loud this morning. Therefore he decided to go and see what was going on. Once he opened his office door, all he saw was a whole bunch of his colleagues running around frantically. He pulled out one that he recognized,

"What in the hell is going on here?"

"There was a bus crash on the highway, saying it was going towards the capital"

Jack took off running

"Mr. Kennedy where are you going?"

"My daughter was on that bus!"

——

On the way to the scene, Jack called Bobby

"Shit Bobby, Kate was on that damn bus!" He yelled hitting his steering wheel

"Jack, Jack calm the hell down, she's probably fine" Bobby spoke as Jack pulled up to the scene

"I'm not so sure Bobby" he spoke very quite as he ran out to the bus

"Sir, were going to need you to stay back" He watched as one of the first responders pulled out Kate's soccer bag that had #28 /KATE/ in blue on it

"No, my daughter, my daughter she was on that bus!"

"Sir, what's your daughters name?"

"Jacqueline Kate Kennedy"

"My God, your John F. Kennedy!"

"Yes, I am, where the hell is my daughter?!"

"Sir I can tell you that if she survived she is already at the hospital, but I-I can't promise that"

"She's always wearing her medical bracelet, it has the sign on it, and on the inside it has her full name, and information about her pacemaker and her feeding tube, do you think you pulled someone out like that?!"

"I-I don't know, but I know they sent all the alive kids to Georgetown Memorial, all I can hope is that she's in that mix, I'm so sorry sir"

"Nope she's not died she's been through all this shit, there is no possible way that this is the way she goes out" he whispered under his breathe walking angrily back to his car.

——

He speed the whole way to Georgetown, and burst through the rotating doors like he's done oh so many times. Quickly he runs up to the desk to talk to a nurse.

"My daughter, Kate Kennedy, she was in the crash, she- she has a bright purple medical bracelet on, um... she has a pacemaker and a g-tube, I-I need to find her"

"We haven't identified any of the kids, all I can tell you is to look"

Therefore Jack went tearing open curtains one after the next, with absolutely no sign of his not so little girl.

Finally he gave up and opened up his phone to call Bobby

"Bob...."

"No, SON OF A BITCH, oh god NO!" you could hear Ethel in the background sniffling

"I can't find her, she's gone, my little bundle of hope and joy is dead, my god she's dead, and so close to Christmas" He put his face in his hands and sobbed

"Mr. Kennedy?" He looked up to see a nurse

"Looks to be 15 year old female has just been brought to the recovery room, I don't know the details, but she may be your girl"

Immediately Jack hung up the phone and followed the nurse. When he walked into the room he knew that that was his girl.

"Katies?"

"Hey sweet girl, it's daddy, I'm here now, I'm here" he said taking her hand in his, a doctor walked in as he gripped tighter

"Her injuries aren't severe, main thing is that we had to replace her g-tube because it came completely out, causing your daughter a tremendous amount of pain. She has a pretty big gash on her forehead as you can see, she'll have to get used to the new g-tube, but other than that she should recover just fine"

"We are supposed to be leaving to go see my family tonight for Christmas, can she go?"

"We will watch her for a few more hours, probably send some iv pain meds for the trip, which won't be too too much of a hassle"

"I wanna go, Daddy" Kate spoke softly addressing her father

"I know we will" he said gripping her hand a little tighter

——

And just like that Kate was loaded on to the family jet with her father, Bobby, and Ethel. Bobby held her head in his lap as she slept.

Once the plane landed the family took Kate to the big house where of course Rose held her close. She was still out as Jack walked into his room after a few hours of crying with his family. He hooked her feeds up for the first time in probably 3-4 years, and fell asleep as his 15 year old daughter clinged to him