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

Eighty One.

With Joe being gone for a couple of weeks now and the wedding only a little over a month away, things are pretty hectic in the house. Thankfully, I've forced myself to allow Jess, Londyn and Jacob to be present almost every day to help with the girls and although the girls ask for me majority of the time, they're starting to catch on that there's more than just mommy in the house regardless of daddy being gone. Do they still prefer me? Sure. But what kid doesn't prefer their mom over someone else?

"Mommy, can I have a snack and sit with you?" Willa asks, walking into the bedroom as I'm folding a load of laundry.

I raise my brows at her, glancing at the time. "You can have a snack, but you cannot come sit with me right now."

She pouts. "But mommy, I want you."

"I understand that my love, but mommy's trying to get some stuff done right now while BraeBrae is taking her nap."

She pouts further. "I miss you."

"Okay, how about I set a timer for ten minutes. When the timer goes off, you can come sit in here with me for a little bit," I tell her, sighing.

She smiles, nodding. "Yeah!"

"Okay, but I need you to go to Jess and stay with her until I tell you that you can come in, okay?"

She nods, skipping out of the room.

I sigh, shaking my head and grabbing my phone, setting the timer as promised and then going back to the laundry.

"Mama, I have a snack too?!" Delphine exclaims, running in.

"Yeah," I nod.

"Yay! Mama says yes!" Delphine exclaims, running back out to Jess.

I grin, shaking my head again. These girls, I swear.

After the timer goes off, I allow Willa to sit with me while I finish the laundry before taking a small break and watching both girls in the playroom for a while before Braelin wakes up, Jess grabbing her and bringing her to me so I can breastfeed before handing her off for some playtime with Jess as the doorbell rings.

"Perfect timing," I sigh to myself, grinning as I leave the room and head to the door, opening it to reveal an exciting looking Stella in front of me. "Hi!"

"Hi!" she squeals, engulfing me in a hug. "Oh, my goodness, I can't believe I'm finally here."

I grin, pulling out from the hug and yanking her and her stuff into the house. "The girls are going to be so excited to see you."

She smiles. "I'm so excited to see them too!"

After greeting the girls, Stella and I sneak off to the master bedroom, both getting comfortable on the bed and letting out sighs.

"Alright, we have some things to chat about," Stella grins. "Wedding things!"

I nod. "We do. I'm excited to talk about the last-minute stuff. I can't believe we're like, just short a month away."

She nods. "I know, I'm so excited. A little nervous though."

I nod. "I mean, that's completely normal. I was nervous before me and Joe got married too. I almost backed out. Not because it's not what I wanted or anything. It was. But I was just so scared."

She nods. "Yeah, for real. It's a crazy feeling."

I nod again. "Alright, so-"

"No," she shakes her head, grabbing my hand. "One topic we need to talk about first."

I raise my brows, confused. "What?"

"How are you doing?" she asks, raising a brow.

I sigh, looking down.

"I'll take that as a not well?" she says.

I sigh, licking my lips. "It's not that it's going bad. It's just so much better and easier when we're all together. The girls miss him like crazy, I'm trying to pick up the slack because they want me so much and instead of it turning out to be a good thing, it more just burns me out and then I'm a shit mom."

"Okay, so, first of all, you're never a shit mom," she shuts me down, giving me a look. "You're actually kind of one of the best moms I've ever seen."

I sigh, rolling my eyes.

"Secondly, you have to stop putting the pressure to pick up the slack when Joe's not here. I know it's hard, but you picking up the slack only changes the routine more for them. It doesn't help make it more normal. You've gotta try to keep it more normal. Or choose certain, the most important parts of the day where Joe would have them and take on that. Like bath or bed not random times he would just spend time with them. Jess can pick that up."

I gulp, nodding. "Yeah, no, you're right. I know. I just feel so guilty that he's not here and so I try to spend more time with them."

"I know," she nods. "And I get it. I do. But burning yourself harms them more than a little less time with y'all and more time with Jess."

I nod. "You're right. Thanks, Stells. I just, want them to be okay. But I know me doing this isn't helping. It's hurting. That sucks. I just want to do the best I can for them."

"I know you do," she nods. "Maybe we can do this over the phone and stuff. Maybe just go travel with him now"

I shake my head. "No, no. We're fine. We'll figure out a system. I need to be here, with you. The wedding is only a little over a month away. We can survive that. Now, let's dive into that. The wedding."

She shakes her head. "Not yet."

I furrow my brows, glancing up at her again. "Why?"

"Because there's one other thing I want to ask you about," she presses her lips together nervously.

I lick my lips. "Okay."

"How are you feeling about the whole... not being over thing?"

My brows shoot up in surprise before I gulp, shaking my head. "No. No. I um, I'm okay. I think I was just stuck in that headspace. I mean, Jacob and Londyn are here, we're safe. Nothing's happened, y'know? I think I'm just... paranoid. Like you guys said," I shrug, lying.

I don't want to lie. It's not how I want to do this with everyone. But I know bringing up that I feel that way still will cause more problems than solutions. That's not something I have the time, energy, or patience for anymore. I feel it in my gut, in my bones. There's more that we missed. But William's searching and we're working on it. That's all I can do right now. No need to cause an uproar or an argument. It'll hurt more than help.

"I'm so glad," she lets out a breath of relief. "I was so worried you were really losing it there for a minute. I mean, with nothing happening, there's nothing to worry about. You and the girls and Joe are completely safe. We caught the guy, end of story." She smiles.

I smile back, pressing my argumentative side to the back. "Exactly."

She nods, finally ready to jump into wedding planning. The entire reason we're sitting here right now. Okay. We've got this. I've got this. Keep it together, Addie. Keep it together. We're good. It's all okay

***

okay, it's a SUPER short chapter, and I'm sorry. it's also more just a filler chapter than anything. 

Another round of writers block has struck again and I've been having some trouble, but I promise I'm doing my best to get more chapters out. I'm still here, haven't disappeared. 

I love you all, thank you for being so patient with me! 

all my love,

shan:)