Bumps in the road | J. Puckerman (1)

Nationals

It was time for nationals again and we were so excited. All of our bags were packed and I couldn't wait. It was a little worrisome with a baby on the way. We get to find out their gender when we get back and I am very excited to know. I will love them no matter what, I just want to know because I like planning things.

We had a pretty good plan for the bus. Jake was okay with me laying on him if I needed to, I packed Elephant and Belle, Belle stayed in the suitcase because even though I love her I don't need her, but Elephant got to come on the bus with us because they kept me from having a whole panic attack.

I fell asleep a few seconds after we sat on the bus. I slept for about an hour when I was woken up by Blaine squeaking. I looked around the bus and saw Marley, Sam, and Ryder sleeping. Blaine was digging around in my bag, and his was on the floor of the bus all messy and open. Jake was watching him and didn't even notice that I woke up.

"What's going on?" I asked, yawning and rubbing my eyes.

Blaine looked at me with pure fear in his eyes, "Bunny is simply missing. He is being torn limb from limb and all alone never to be seen again. He is dead. Simply murdered. Call an NCIS agent or something... you watch that show so do something. Bunny is very very ten types of gone. Poof, vanished, dead, pow, murdered," he said as tears streamed down his face.

Jake kissed the top of my head and stood up, "okay, Blaine how about you sit with Emily and I will look for Bunny because my brain is moving slower. Ems can help you get your brain slow, and then we can come up with a plan later."

Blaine sat down next to me and laid his head on my shoulder crying. I glanced at the bag in hopes I would see something yellow that was hopefully bunny, but I didn't. I remembered packing him, I just didn't know where.

"Shhh, it's okay big brother. You're okay Bug. Let's go through your worries, first off none of us were in the military so unless Bunny was living a double life, I don't think that NCIS can help us," he laughed sadly at my joke and looked back up at me. "I am pretty sure that bunny got packed, he is probably just chilling with Belle. Let's take some deep breaths and we can look next time we stop."

Blaine started breathing faster and grabbing at my shirt. I put my hands on his face and rubbed my thumb on his cheek, "Blaine, you are okay. You just need to breathe and we will be okay. We have been through so much and we can do this," I played with his hair because he didn't gel for the bus.

I held him close to me and softly rubbed his back until he fell asleep. I looked over at Jake and he shook his head as an 'I didn't find it.' I nodded and kissed the air at him.

Have I mentioned that Jake is perfect? He literally looked for my brother's stuffed animal even after he fell asleep. Jake just gets it, he just cares and I am so lucky to be with him and to be having a child with him, even if it wasn't exactly when we planned.  

I sat there for about an hour, texting Jake so we didn't wake anyone up. Sam woke up and leaned over to kiss who he thought was Blaine, but ended up kissing Jake. 

"Ahh! No! Just- Blah!" Jake, yelled. 

I held Blaine's ears because it was loud and I knew he didn't need to be woken up by people yelling. Sam and Jake were wiping at their lips and screaming, "y'all need to shut up," I whispered harshly. 

We pulled into the lot to get gas and Jake ran to check for Bunny. He ran and started digging in all of our bags. After a few minutes, he lightly tapped on the window and held up Blaine's yellow bunny. He came back on the bus and sat Bunny on Blaine's lap, stealing a quick kiss from me before sitting back on his seat.

I combed my fingers through Blaine's hair and kissed the top of his head, "Hey Bugga, guess who saved the day?"

"All done all too much," Blaine muttered hiding his head in my neck. 

I kissed his head again and laughed, "Jake found your lil friend. Elephant and Jaguar are simply ecstatic. Open your eyeballs and look in your hands, big brother." 

He opened one eye and looked in his hands. When he saw Bunny, he started crying and hid his face in my chest, clinging onto Bunny for dear life. I rubbed his back, and after a few minutes, he was okay. He stood up and switched places with Jake again, patting him on the back as a thank you. He snuggled into Sam's neck and kissed him a few times. Jake sat back next to me and I snuggled into him. He supported my neck to keep my head from flopping with one hand and put his hand on my belly with the other. 

The rest of the bus ride went smooth, and when we got to the hotel we all went off to our rooms. Even though they weren't a huge fan of couples staying together, they let Marley, Blaine, Jake, Sam, Ryder, and I all stay in one room. I mean, no one was going to do anything with other people in the room, and nothing much more could happen with Jake and me.

We got all of our stuff put away, and got dressed and ready to perform. We performed our set amazingly and Marley and I rocked our duet if I do say so myself. We waited for all the other teams to compete, and when they finished we waited for them to announce the winners. We all held our breath as they read from fifth place up to second. They didn't call our name. We didn't place, this is fine.

"And in the first place, we have...the New Directions!" the announcer yelled. 

Everyone screamed and jumped around. Jake lifted Marley and me and spun, "you did it my girls!" he kissed Marley on the cheek and kissed my lips then my belly.

We did it. We won.