Adopted

Chapter 90

Jessica's POV

I woke up later in the afternoon, a little disoriented, because I didn't really remember falling asleep. 

I pulled myself out of bed and went downstairs, where I heard voices, still. 

Zack and Kala were still over, and Josh and Debby had come over, too. 

"Hey there, kiddo!" Josh said, coming over and giving me a hug. 

"Hey Uncle Josh," I said. 

"Hey beautiful!" Debby said, also giving me a hug. 

"I," Josh said, picking up a box, "brought you a gift. Merry Christmas."

"Thanks!" I opened it immediately and saw a brand new pair of drumsticks, painted yellow, with my name etched into them.

"These are so cool!" I said, giving him a hug. 

"They're custom. I had them made for you," he said. "And they're yellow, because that's the them of the new album."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep. We're writing it, and working on it. We were working on, well, Tyler, was working on continuing the lore from Blurryface. He's got this whole world worked out along with characters and villains and heroes and, it's incredible.  We haven't even got to the studio yet, and he's got everything mapped out."

"That's so cool!" I said. 

"So, I thought when we can get you back behind the set, you can use those for your lessons."

"Awesome," I said, smiling. 

We finished exchanging gifts, and sat around talking. PopPop pulled me over to him, and wrapped his arms around me. 

"I'm not letting you out of my sight the whole time we're here, my angel," he whispered in my ear. 

"PopPop, that's weird.  Are you going to follow me to the bathroom?" I smiled up at him. 

"Okay, almost the whole time," he smiled at me, and gave me a kiss on the head. 

-----------------

Brendon POV

I watched my dad and Jess snuggle on the couch. He heard him whisper he wasn't letting her out of his sight the whole time they were visiting, and Jess laughed, saying it was a bit weird, and was he going to follow her to the bathroom. 

It was hard seeing Jess struggling with the eating issues she was having. But seeing her smile, and hearing her laugh, something we hadn't seen much of in the weeks leading up to her feeding tube being inserted. She'd been so tired, because she couldn't eat, or rather, keep food down.  Even though she was still thinner than she'd been, she looked so much better. Her eyes were bright, she smiled easily, and she laughed more. It was nice to see, but I worried that she might not be doing as well as we were hoping. 

---------------

Sarah's POV

Jessica looked so small next to her grandfather.   I don't remember her looking so... so small before. I mean, she looks better than she did a couple of months ago, but she still looked so small.  Boyd had his arms around here and I saw him kiss her on her head. She smiled. She looked happy, and it made me feel happy, too. I knew Brendon was worried about Jess. He kept saying so at night when we went to bed. He'd been writing music, and starting on a new album, and he'd been feeling guilty when he wasn't home with her. He was doing as much as he could from home, and hovering just a little more than usual. 

Josh and Debby and Zack and Kala were still visiting, and I put out some snacks for everyone. I was still stuffed from Christmas lunch but there's always room for snacks. 

----------------

Jessica's POV

PopPop was funny, saying he was going to keep me in his sights the whole time he was staying with us. I loved snuggling with him and I was glad they were staying until after the New Year. Just before I was supposed to go back to school.  

PopPop asked me what I was taking this coming semester, and we talked about school, and the news - he still made me read at least one news article a week.  We talked about politics and how crazy everything was. 

Mom put out some snacks for everyone. 

When dinner time rolled around, Dad suggested ordering in pizza. Everyone agreed. 

"Jess, what do you want on your pizza?" Dad asked. 

"I don't care. I'm not really hungry," I said. I saw the look in his eyes and it made me sad. 

After Dad called in the pizza order, Mom got my 'food' from the fridge, and the bottle. And the IV pole we kept downstairs, and got me all hooked up. 

"What's that?" Uncle Josh asked. 

"It's how I eat," I said. "You lot waste all your time chewing and swallowing, I just go straight to the intestine. No fuss, no muss." 

"But, she can eat if she wants to," Mom said. 

"Yeah, but my stomach's a bit of a jerk these days, so, this is better for now," I said. 

"Oh," Uncle Josh said, exchanging a look with Dad. Dad shrugged and looked down. 

About an hour after the pizza came, I got tired. Dad took the bag off the IV pole, and PopPop picked me up and carried me up the stairs. PopPop tucked me into bed, and Dad brought my meds over. 

"Alright, you," Dad said, taking my water glass. "Get some sleep, okay? We'll see you in the morning and get you all unhooked, okay?"

"Yup," I yawned. 

I slept through the night and was woken up in the morning when Dad came to check my feed and see if it was time to get me all unhooked. 

"How're you feeling, kiddo?" he asked, sitting on the side of my bed.  "And I mean really.  How are you really feeling?"

"I'm okay," I said. I looked at him.  There was something in his eyes. 

"Dad, I'm okay, really."

"Jess. Are you really okay? I mean, really?"

"What are you trying to get at, Dad?"

"Do you think, maybe..."

"No. Other than my stomach being a jerk I really feel okay. I don't think I'll be trying out for baseball this spring, and I need a bit more sleep than before - but I think that's because I'm still getting my strength back from this gastritis and pancreatitis and not being able to eat for a few weeks. But Dad, I swear, I'm okay. You're stuck with me for a while. Sorry."

He wrapped me in a tight hug. 

"Never apologize. We love being 'stuck' with you," he said and then kissed the top of my head. 

"Mom's got breakfast going.  Want to try some scrambled eggs and toast?"

"Sure. Let me just take my meds, and I'll be down in a couple of minutes, okay?"

"You bet. Get dressed, too.  Maybe we'll go out for a walk or something. Hit the mall maybe? Maybe go for some ice cream?"

"Sure, Dad," I said and smiled.