Them. | The Final Installment of the Him Series | Joe Jonas Fanfiction

Thirty Eight.

I knew adjusting to life back with the girls and Joe would be a little challenging. Being a week in now, it's proven to be true. The girls have changed so much. It's almost like I can't keep up. Delphine's getting so big, starting to talk more and more each day and Willa, well... she's been a little challenging. Her separation anxiety has made it so that Joe and I don't really have any time together at all. She won't sleep by herself, I assume for the fear that she'll wake up and I'll be gone, though we try to remind her that I'm not going anywhere. It's hard for her to understand or believe it. She's doing a little better any other time, though. She'll at least walk away from me, now, as long as we're in the same room. We've been trying little by little to create a little more distance between us while she's occupied, but I never make it out of the room before she notices. How can I make this easier for her? I guess Joe and I just being patient is the best way to go.

As for myself, I think missing so much of the girls lives for the past six months has taken more of a toll on me than I originally thought. I knew I had missed them; I knew that all I wanted was to get back to them but what I didn't realize was how much I was going to miss and how it would take a toll on me to walk back in and see my girls as two completely different humans. Sure, Willa's attached to my hip most of the time, our connection is still there but for Delphine it's been much harder. She prefers daddy and Jessica over me, which is fine... but not. She calls me mama, but it doesn't seem like she really sees me as hers. I don't know how to work on that.

"Mama!"

"Yeah babe?" I ask, turning toward Willa.

"Where is daddy?"

"Daddy's with Uncle Nick working, baby, he'll be home later."

"Oh," she says sadly.

"He'll be back, baby," I tell her, running my hand through her hair. "He just has to work for a couple of hours. Hey, why don't you go help Ms. Jess water your little garden? Mama will be right here."

"Okay," she says, hugging me before walking over to Jessica who lets her help water her few small plants she has.

Joe and I seem to be okay, but I can tell the lack of time being able to spend together is bothering him... and I can't blame him at all. We've just spent six months without one another and now here we are a week in being back together and haven't been able to spend any time with one another... at least alone. One of the girls is always there, not that we mind. The girls are everything to us... but mommy and daddy need time too. And I'm pretty sure he's at his breaking point, wanting to buckle down on Willa sleeping in her own bed again. I understand... but I understand her fear too.

I'm adjusting to being back too. Not only with the girls but for myself. I still can't shake the feeling of it not being over. I still feel like we missed something. I still feel like there's more to it and we didn't figure it all out. I mean, seriously, how in the hell did Jason, of all people, put all of that together on his own? He's never been good at the life they lived as kids. He was always the one running behind. But somehow he put on this elaborate plan and kept it going without me being able to figure it out for months? It just doesn't seem believable. I mean, maybe the reason he got away with it was because I wasn't expecting him to be able to. Maybe that's what it was... but at the same time, I still find it hard to believe that he was working alone. There's no way he pulled it all off on his own.

"Boo."

I blink, getting out of my head and looking over at Londyn. "Oh, hey."

"Hey," she says, plopping onto the couch next to me. "What's going on? You're like, out of it."

I furrow my brows. "What do you mean?"

"Well," she sighs. "You're just, like, dazed. You keep zoning out. I mean, I think we all knew an adjustment period was going to happen, but I think it's just a bit more than I thought, personally. You were so eager to get home. Now you are, and you seem only half here."