Meet Daisy Tripper, the youngest of Jack and Janet's children in my post-8x02 AU (so far; I'm debating adding a fourth kid, considering some very obvious things), as played by Samantha Barks.
Born on Valentine's Day 1989, she soaks in all of the love and attention she receives from her family, both blood and chosen. By the time she's two, both Jack and Janet notice how creative she is (which surprises them, because neither of them consider themselves to have big imaginations), creating a large group of imaginary friends by kindergarten.
When she was six years old, Jack took her and her siblings to see the LA production of Beauty and the Beast (which pretty much had most of the original Broadway cast, such as Susan Egan, Terrence Mann, and Gary Beach). Seeing this production awakens something in her; she starts taking voice and dance lessons, and she begins auditioning for the local children's theater. Both Jack and Janet act as parent volunteers for every production that she's in, and Jack continues taking her to see productions of other shows.
Out of all of the Tripper kids, Daisy has the most... complex response to it. Whereas Hazel is pretty much devastated and her struggles with depression are pretty... textbook, for lack of a better term, and Reed is trying to hold himself together for everyone else's sake, Daisy's immediate response is anger. She acts as if, rather than dying from something caught too late, Jack had left the family for another woman. She's angry at Janet for not getting him to the hospital on time, at the doctors for misdiagnosing him, at Hazel for supposedly being Jack's "favorite," at Reed for barely showing any emotion at all, at herself. But when she goes back to school, she tries to act like nothing happened. She resumes rehearsals for the fall musical, she ignores the trite but well-meaning sympathy cards left in her locker, and she doesn't want to hear anyone say how sorry they are that her dad is dead. She doesn't want to be branded as "the chick with the dead dad."
During the tech week of the show, Daisy lashes out at the director when she sees in the program that the show has been dedicated to Jack, locks herself in a dressing room closet, and truly cries for the first time since the funeral. The drama teacher brings Janet backstage. Janet expects this to be a tearful, come to Jesus heart-to-heart, and tries to talk to her daughter through the door. However, when Janet finishes saying what she thinks will help, Daisy just walks out and continues getting ready for the show, like nothing happened.
Her taste in music changes drastically, with most of the more brighter cast recordings collecting dust. She makes some pretty bad and pretty impulsive decisions. She becomes sloppier in her dress off-stage, her temper becomes shorter, and she's not as social as she used to be. But she still tries to maintain that everything's normal, she's fine, and she doesn't really care if you're worried about her. Dad died three years ago, she's over it by now.
She mainly applies to colleges on the East Coast, wanting to get as far away as she can from Santa Monica, her family, and Jack's ghost. But it only makes it worse. One night, she calls Janet in tears, saying that she wants to go home. Without hesitation, Janet is on the next flight to New York City.
Daisy takes the rest of the semester off and returns to Santa Monica. She begins to mend her relationships with her mother, her siblings, and her old friends. She takes her old job as a waitress at the bistro back to make money. As a way to entertain herself, she begins posting covers of herself singing on YouTube. Having opted out of family therapy after a screaming match with Janet about it, she begins going to therapy. She returns to school for the spring semester without incident.
In 2009, her college puts on Beauty and the Beast, and she wins her dream role, Belle.
But on opening night, as she's putting on the village dress, she breaks down in tears. Once again, Janet is called backstage-- this time, with Hazel, Reed, and everyone else important in Daisy's life. Everyone, including Daisy's leading man and best friend since school, are able to help her through her anxiety attack just as the director calls, "Places in ten."
In Daisy's bio, she dedicates her performance to Jack and thanks him for being the one who got her interested in theater.
