Free Fall

Chapter 11 Breaking point

For the next three months Angel learned to use her new prosthetic arm to do all sorts of things around the house, and even in baby care classes, that she took at the hospital. Her mental state as well as her feelings for her mother improved, but her relationship with her father continued to decline with every letter that he sent to her beach house. She was now six months pregnant and the stress had caused her to get violently sick many times, and she was forced into her bed day after day feeling sick to her stomach much to J.J.'s extreme displeasure. He had found a lovely four bedroom house in a gated community in the Woodlands, and was in the process of moving them out of the beach house with the help of T.J. and her friends Eagle and Ace, when he arrived back at the beach house and what they all saw made them leap from the trucks and scream Angel's name as they tried to get to her.


The car had been set on fire, and the house was engulfed in flames. J.J. and T.J. were about to attempt to force their way passed the flames into the house to search for Angel, when Eagle and Ace ran passed them screaming at the top of their lungs as they spotted Angel as she collapsed onto the sand behind the house and coughed as she gasped for air. Ace called the fire department, and an ambulance as J.J. and T.J. ran to Angel's side, and Eagle moved the two trucks away so that they wouldn't be caught up in the flames. Angel blinked up into her husband's blue eyes as he checked her over for any burns sighing with relief when he found none on her person.


"Don't talk right now, darling, the Ambulance will be here shortly to check you out." J.J. said as she started to sob as he rocked her in his arms before lifting her from the beach and carrying her over to his truck where he turned on the engine and cranked up the air-conditioning to aid her breathing. The Paramedics arrived shortly along with the fire crew, and she was given oxygen to help her lungs. As soon as she was breathing better, she was questioned about what happened and T.J. and J.J.'s faces along with those of Eagle and Ace grew dark with rage as she spoke.


"Mrs. Watt, can you tell us what started the fire?" asked the Fire Marshal as the flames were extinguished.
"I was just finishing up packing the last of the light stuff in the master bathroom and our bedroom, and was about to take a nap until my husband and big brother got back, when I heard this loud explosion, and the house shook like someone had set off a bomb right under the living room where I park my car. When I moved to the window, I was forced back, by the flames, and I was unable to get out through the living room because there were already flames all over the place." she said as J.J. wrapped a tender protective arm around her shoulder and held her close.


"The smoke got so thick that I could barely see where I was going, I couldn't see where the latch to the sliding glass doors of the bedroom were that led out onto the back porch, so I managed to find one of my husband's hand weights, and used it to smash out the window so that I could get out of the house. I was so scared that I was going to die in there." she began to sob as J.J. soothed her.
"We'll preform tests to find out exactly what caused the fire Mr. Watt. She's going to be alright, but we still advise that you take her to the nearest hospital to have her checked more thoroughly in her condition." The Fire Marshal suggested.
"Thank you, I'll do that right away. My wife and our unborn children are more important than anything else at this point. Here's my cell number, you can contact me when you find out what caused this." J.J. said as he handed over a folded sheet of paper with his mobile number on it before he pulled his wife gently by the arm and helped her to slide into the center seat with her brother taking the passenger seat beside her and clinging to her just as tightly.


From that point Angel was terrified to be left alone, and was never left alone. If she wasn't with J.J. or her big brother, she was with Connie who was just as frightened for the safety of her grandchildren as J.J. was. She argued with J.J. almost constantly begging him to just quit the Team and to take Angel home to his Cabin in Wisconsin, where she'd be safe. "Mom, we've been over and over this. Angel is too far along to make that kind of trip. I don't like this anymore than you do , and believe me the only thing that I'm worried about at this point is keeping my wife and children safe from whoever is doing this, but I can't move her until after the babies have been born." J.J. said as he paced the living room of his home running his hands nervously through his hair.


"Have the police, and the fire marshals ever figured out who burned down the beach house, and tried to kill Angel?" his father asked as he entered the living room with a tray of food for J.J. to take in to his wife who was now on complete bedrest.
"It's definitely arson, but they aren't any closer to finding who did it or to proving her father innocent or guilty of the crime. Her mother was also put into the hospital after suffering a heart attack when she saw it on the news. T.J. has been up at the Hospital ever since by her side, and nobody has seen her father since before the fire. I'll be right back." J.J. said as he took the food and carried it back to his bedroom where his wife lay relaxed in the soft cushioned window seat crocheting two Texans themed baby blankets with matching bootees, and little baby hats that looked like football helmets without the face guard.


"Those are looking really great, Sweetheart How are you and our boys feeling? Are you hungry, yet, because dad's made your favorite bar-b-q boneless steaks with his honey bar-b-q sauce that you love so much.?" J.J. asked as he pulled up a chair and sat the tray of food on her lap after she had sat aside her work.
"I thought that I smelled your dad's cooking. Did you get my chocolate, kisses?" she asked as she took the tray of food from him and smiled as she took a sip of the iced tea that he had brought her.
"You mean the Hershey's, kisses, that you wanted in a bowl with baby marshmallows, and graham cracker pieces, with dill pickle slices?" he asked laughing as he cringed as he handed her over the bowl.
"Thank you, Justin, I know that I get some weird cravings, but I just can't help it." Angel smiled as she took the entire bowl and dumped it onto her plate of steak and garlic mashed potatoes with a smile.


"I still don't see how you can eat half of what you eat, but I'm not going to argue with you at this point. Does that weird concoction at least make the babies happy when you eat it?" he asked with a smile.
"You tell me." she said as she suddenly grabbed his hand and placed it onto her belly so that he could feel the babies as they moved in happy motions that made her laugh until one of them kicked her in the ribs. "Ouch, take it easy in there, you little rascals. You're bruising mommy from the inside out. J.J., I'm telling, you, at least one of the boys is definitely going to be one hell of a place kicker, when he grows up." she winced as the baby kicked again.


J.J. smiled as he gently ran his hand over her stomach knowing that it always soothed the boys when they were restless. "I think that you're right about that. Calm down now boys, I know that you're eager to get out but it's not quite time for you to come out of your room, just yet." J.J. said with his lips against her stomach before one of the baby's kicked right where his lips were, and sent him sitting back up laughing. "Mom and Dad are still here, Angel, Just call me if you need anything else, I'm just in the living room." he said as he kissed her cheek lovingly.
"I will, Justin, Oh, when you come back, will you bring me that other roll of red yarn from the shopping bag , so that I can finish J.T. and Jr.'s blanket?" she asked as she took another bite of her food.
" Sure my Lady, Angel. Your wish is my command." he bowed before leaving the room.


It was now the day of the first game of the season, and Angel had insisted upon being out on the field to lead her husband and brother's team to victory. The contractions had been coming off and on all day since seven in the morning, and she had said nothing, until her water broke just as the team was stepping off of the field for half time. The pain was at that moment so intense that she momentarily lost her voice, and simply pulled J.J. down so that his ear was at her lips, and whispered out, a single word, that made him rip his helmet off and sweep his wife into his arms before running for the medics.


Upon their examination, they had no choice but to run her into the Texan's Therapy room where they sometimes got their muscles massaged by the best massage therapists in the state, because it was the most hygienic place in the stadium, and J.J.'s first son was very eager to come out and meet the world. J.J. held his wife, as she screamed and pushed their first born from her body, just as the paramedics arrived. He was about to reach for her right hand honestly forgetting which of her arms was the robotic prosthetic only to quickly change his mind as she grasped the edge of the massage table and the padded wood splintered in the grasp as she gave one final push and their first son slid easily into the hands of one of the paramedics, screaming for all that his little lungs was worth.


Angel gasped and attempted to calm her breathing and her racing heart, as she relaxed in J.J.'s arms, while he watched the paramedic as he cleaned up their first son and wrapped him into a warm blanket. Then it began all over again before the first baby was even finished being attended to. "Apparently your other son, really wanted to watch the game too!" Angel said between clenched teeth before she screamed again. Forty five minutes later it was all over and J.J. and Angel were handed their sons who were healthy and strong little Watt boys. Their weight, length, and the time and place of their births had been recorded, and Justin James Watt Jr., and his brother John Tayler Watt were taken to the hospital with their proud parents as a precaution.


Angel's brother wanted to go with them, but Angel and J.J. both ordered him back onto the field, and gave him permission to make the announcement to J.J.'s family and the rest of the team, before continuing to play and win the game. T.J. grabbed the Watts and dragged them into the large huddle of the team before he smiled and announced proudly that his two nephews J.J. Watt Jr., and J.T. Watt had just been born in the massage therapy room within the stadium, and were both healthy and strong little Texans, and that J.J. and Angel insisted that the team slam the opposing team into the turf in honor of the two new members to the Watt family and the Texans team. The team all cheered for their coach and her husband, before they ran back out onto the field and dominated the second half.


John and Connie, along with their other two sons, and their girlfriends were the first to get to the hospital to greet the newest members of the family, and they smiled as they entered the private room and found J.J. sitting there in a chair beside Angel's bed, giving his first born son, a critical look, as if he was attempting to memorize his every detail, while Angel was carefully dressing J.T. in the little Texans shirt that she had made for him, with a smile on her face. "J.J., why are you looking at the baby like that?" Derick asked as he stepped over and took a look at his oldest nephew by five minutes.


"I'm trying to see if I can tell them apart, while ignoring the cute little jerseys that Angel made for them." J.J. said as little J.T. yawned sleepily now held safely in his grandmother's arms after his mother had finished dressing him.
"Angel, sweetie, how are you feeling?" John asked as J.J. handed over his grandson.
"Like I've just passed two cantaloupes out of a hole the size of a lemon!" Angel said making the men in the room wince and Connie burst out laughing, which woke both of the babies, and set them to crying at the noise.


Angel shook her head and held out her hands to take Jr. from his grandfather, who simply smiled and began to hum softly as he gently rocked the baby in his arms and the baby quieted down almost instantly giving the man a strange look before he fussed a bit and went back to sleep followed closely by his little brother in his grandmother's arms. "Dad, that was amazing! Mom, I know that you've always been good with babies, but I never expected it of dad." T.J said as he held his nephew for the first time.
"Hay, you don't spend years in the fire department, and not learn more than a few tricks for soothing baby's. Besides, I did have three big mouthed boys of my own who were this small once upon a time, though you wouldn't know it to look at either of them today." John smiled.


Later that evening the entire Texans team came by a few at a time to visit the family, and J.J. proudly showed the twins off, while Angel rested. By the time that visiting time was over, everyone had visited and the room was filled with balloons, stuffed toys, and flowers. . Angel was learning how to use a breast pump to make feeding the boys easier, and J.J. was learning how to change a diaper without getting peed upon, when there was a knock at the door, and the attending nurse opened it to reveal a thin and frazzled looking Mrs. Yates, who looked as if she was almost afraid to be there.


"I know that it's just passed visiting hours, but, I had to wait until your father passed out before I came down to see the babies. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you Angel. I can only stay a minute or two, what did you name them?" she asked as she lingered just inside of the door. J.J. crossed the room with his younger son in his arms and pulled her into a chair before handing J.T. over to her.
"This is our second born son, John Tayler Watt, and the little squirt over there in Angel's arms with a bottle in his mouth, is our first born Justin, James Watt Jr." J.J. said with a happy smile as he handed his mother-in-law a bottle of freshly pumped breast milk to feed her grandchild.


She took the bottle and gave J.J. a strange look before chuckling softly under her breath. I take it that you got peed upon by your first born. You didn't have your mouth open, did you?" she asked with a smile
"No thank god!" Angel smiled as J.J. simply blushed. "Mother, you said that you had to wait for father to pass out! Is he drinking again?" Angel asked noticing how her mother flinched slightly as she readjusted little John Tayler in her arms.
"I think that you know the answer to that, Angel." her mother said as she gazed down at her grandchild who blinked up at her with his father's eyes.


"Mom, there's something that you want to tell us, isn't there?" Angel asked perceptively as Jr. stopped drinking his bottle and she lifted him to her shoulder and patted him gently with her robotic hand until he burped. J.J. took Jr. and gently placed him into his basinet leaving Angel to relax.
"Justin, Angel, I don't know how to say this. I think that your father is the one who set your car and the beach house on fire. He's lost it, and refuses to get help. Now all of a sudden after not giving a damned about the fact that you're alive, and the fact that you were pregnant, upon hearing about the birth of the twins on the news, he's decided that a crippled shouldn't have custody of his grandchildren. He doesn't know that you've got an amazing prosthetic , and he doesn't care that you have J.J. and the entire Watt family backing you. He's decided to call child protective services to have the twins taken from you." Mrs. Yates said as she handed John Tayler over to Angel who cuddled him onto her shoulder and burped him, while J.J. spun to look at her with rage in his eyes.


"Mrs. Yates, thank you for telling us about this. Does he know where we live now?" he asked giving Angel a worried look.
"No, but it won't take CPS long to find that out, after he calls them. He would have called them today, but I managed to get him drunk enough to make him pass out, and I took the batteries out of all of the phones. I don't want my grandbabies, dragged through the courts, and I don't want either of you to have to jump through all of that red tape that the state will enact when he finally gets a working phone into his hand. He doesn't know where your home in Wisconsin is, so please J.J. you have to take your family away from here where they'll be safe from him. I couldn't handle it if he got his way." Mrs. Yates said as she trembled.


"Don't worry, mother, Justin, won't let anyone take our children from us." Angel said as she placed her other son down into the bassinet, before turning and wrapping her mother into her arms.
"Damned straight, I won't!" J.J. growled as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, and started making calls.
"Thank you mother, Tayler will keep you posted on things, and you can always go to Eagle or Ace if you need help." Angel said as she hugged her mother warmly before allowing her to leave with a worried expression on her face. The nurse came into the room and gave Angel an exasperated look upon seeing her sitting in her bed with one of her babies in each arm, while her husband hissed angrily into his phone attempting to not wake his sleeping children.


"Mrs. Watt, you look tired, why don't you let me take your children to the nursery?" she suggested making Angel and Justin both glare at her with distrust in their eyes.
"Thank you, but no! My husband and I are perfectly capable of taking care of our children. They will not be taken from this room unless they are in their baby carriers, and on the way home. You may leave a few more diapers, and wipes here, but my children will stay with me." Angel said with her eyes going a cold shade of ice blue.
"But, Mrs. Watt!" the nurse argued. J.J. put his free hand over his phone and glared at the nurse before he spoke.
"They stay right here! If they are removed at any time during the night, I'll have your job and this hospital will have one hell of a law suit on its hands. You may leave now." he growled irritably as he seemed to increase in size to the eyes of the nurse, and his wife chuckled at the way that the nurse ran from the room with a terror filled expression on her face.


"Easy now big daddy. I don't think that the hospital will take too kindly to you making the nurses wet themselves, or to you giving them heart attacks." Angel said with a smile as she tenderly laid one of the boys upon her lap, before pulling the basinet over closer to the bed, and placing Justin James Jr. into it.
"I will feel a lot better when I've gotten the three of you out of here. I need to go and get my charger out of the truck. I'll be right back." Justin said as he waited until she had placed Little John Tayler into his bassinet, before he planted a kiss upon her cheek.
"We'll be right here when you come back." Angel said as she stretched and relaxed into the bed with a hand resting upon each bassinet.


Regrettably J.J. hadn't brought his home charger in his truck so he was forced to stay inside of his truck attempting to make plans to move his family out of the state by noon the next day. By the time that all of the plans were made he had fallen asleep inside of the truck and only awoke when his body slumped forward and he ended up pressing his weight against the horn, that made him wake with a start and a curse when he glanced down at his phone and noticed not only the time but a missed call from a number that he didn't recognize. Suddenly chills ran down his spine, and he leapt from the truck with his phone and his keys in hand and sprinted back up to his wife's hospital room where all hell had broken out, and she was being held down by four nurses, two male and two female, while she screamed hysterically.


His eyes instantly flicked to where the bassinets sat empty and he stomped into the room instantly making the female nurses back down in fear, and clearing his throat loudly making the male nurses turn their heads in shock. "You have less than three seconds to get your fucking hands off of my wife, and to explain to me exactly why she's crying and screaming like that , and where my fucking children have been taken against my orders?" he snarled looking very imposing at that moment. Upon being released from their grip Angel rocketed out of the bed and into J.J.'s arms where she shook with sobs and attempted to not grasp onto him with her prosthetic knowing that she could hurt him with it in her emotional state.


"Angel, darling, what happened?" he asked fearing her answer.
"T-they came and t-took, our b-babies! J-Justin, p-please make them b-bring them back! I want my boys back!" she sobbed into his chest.
"Who the hell did you idiots allow in here that took my children, and where have they been taken?" J.J. snarled in rage as Dr. Wintergreen entered the room to give the family their exit papers, and her smile faltered upon finding Mr. and Mrs. Watt distraught, and the babies missing from their bassinets.


"Mr. Mulligan, Mr. Arthur, Ms. Jackson, Mrs. Grunnings, would one of you care to explain to me exactly what the hell is going on here, and why the Watt children are missing?" Dr. Wintergreen asked with her arms crossed.
"A representative from Child Protective services showed up and said that they were taking custody of the twins because they have reason to believe that a disabled mentally unstable woman, was not capable of taking care of them." Nurse Jackson said in a soft fearful tone.
"MY WIFE IS NOT MENTALLY UNSTABLE, AND SHE IS NOT DISABLED TO THE POINT WHERE SHE IS NOT CAPABLE OF TAKING PROPER CARE OF OUR CHILDREN! EVEN IF SHE WAS , I AM PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF ATTENDING TO MY CHILDREN. HAD ANY OF YOU BEEN HERE ALL OF YESTERDAY AND LAST NIGHT, YOU WOULD HAVE FUCKING REALIZED THAT THOSE FUCKING CHARGES WERE UNFOUNDED AND UNTRUE!" J.J. screamed as his parents and brothers along with T.J. entered the room hearing his enraged voice from the instant that they had exited the elevator.


"J.J. take it easy, we know where they are. My mother is up at CPS headquarters with the twins as we speak. She's fighting them, over it, and refuses to leave the building with my father who is yet again apparently drunk. He beat the shit out of her when she got home last night. I had to go over there and ended up knocking him out to stop him from hurting mother." T.J. said as he placed a hand on J.J.'s shoulder in an attempt to calm him.
"We've finally got back results from the arson report from the beach house, and the police are waiting outside to give us an escort, and to arrest Angel and T.J.'s father for the crime." John said as Dr. Wintergreen handed them over a thick folder that would prove that Angel Watt was capable to handle taking care of her children before J.J. led his still sobbing wife out of the room with the rest of the family on his heels.


---0---


J.J. helped his wife into the passenger side seat of the truck, before he ran around and leapt into the driver's seat and started the engine before he noticed her eyes on the double car seat that they had purchased especially for their boys, and was sobbing silently again. He flipped up the center console, and pulled her into his arms holding her tightly while she sobbed harder. "Angel, darling, don't do this to yourself. It's not your fault." he said in a calm tone.
"No, Justin, it is my fault. I shouldn't have fallen asleep until you came back, ,but I was just so tired that I couldn't help myself." she sobbed into his chest as her brother tapped on the driver's side window of the truck making J.J. look up with a start at being disrupted.


He pushed the button to roll down the window, and gave T.J a nod." "She needs you to calm her down. Scoot the two of you over, I'm driving." T.J. said as he opened the door and gave his brother-in-law a gentle nudge. J.J. grunted and slid over picking Angel up into his lap and placing her in the middle seat between himself and her big brother while T.J. buckled himself in, and pulled out into the early morning traffic following the police escort.
"Angel, listen to me. I don't want you blaming yourself. You carried the boys for nine months, and you gave birth to them. That's enough to tire anyone out. I was the one who fell asleep in the truck because I forgot my house charger at home, and had to stay attached to the truck just to get things ready for us to leave Texas later today. If this is anyone's fault it's mine." Justin said as he looked down into her tear filled eyes.


"You're both wrong, it's neither of your faults. The fault all lies with our father, who is going to burn in hell when we get through with him." T.J. growled as they pulled into the CPS parking lot to find, his father's truck gone, and his mother being carried into an ambulance. T.J. cursed as he slammed the truck into park, and leapt out running to the ambulance, while J.J. and Angel got out of the truck and ran into the building to find Connie, and John Watt each holding one of their grandchildren as the social worker looked over Angel's file that they had handed to her with a critical expression upon her face, as she looked the frazzled woman up and down as if she was a bug under a microscope.


"Mrs. Watt, I'm sorry for the distress that this has caused you and your family. I am willing to turn custody of your children back over to you, if you wouldn't mind simply showing me how you would handle them. I want to see how well you can manage for myself, that goes for you as well Mr. Watt. I also would like to know if you will be taking an active role in the care of your children or if you intend on hiring a nanny to assist with their care for when you are at that game that you call work." the snooty sounding woman said making J.J. grit his teeth before he spoke.


"My wife and I have enough money saved up between my NFL earnings and her Military benefits and earnings, that I have no need to work, and will be able to give my full attention and time to my boys. What else do you need from me other than that?" he asked .
"IF the two of you will follow me, we will test you, to ensure that the two of you will be able to handle twins." the woman said as she turned and led them down a hall and into a class room that was set up like a small apartment with two cribs inside of it.


For the next hour the Watts waited with the babies, while their parents were tested on everything from diaper changes, and feeding to every task that might possibly come up when caring for children. By the end of it the social worker was certain that both of them clearly knew their stuff despite being first time parents, and she smiled as Mrs. Watt gently grasped her hand with a soft feather light touch with her prosthetic arm in thanks for returning custody of the twins to them. Her smile widened even farther as they returned to the waiting room to find the twins crying and refusing to be soothed by anyone except for their mother and father who took each infant into their arms, making them quieten down instantly.


Angel and J.J. both walked out of the building feeling much better now that their babies were back in their care, followed by their family, as they each took a side of the truck and gently secured the twins into their car seats. Angel sat in the back seat with the babies, while J.J. drove to the airport where Ace and Eagle were waiting for them. The two men smiled as they caught sight of the twins, and Ace took the biprop while Eagle flew the Watt family excluding Connie, John and J.J.'s brothers to Wisconsin. The rest of the family would be following them within the week after last minute things had been settled.


This was the first time that Angel had willingly gotten onto a plane that wasn't a large passenger jet, and she found that instead of being nervous, that she was calm and relaxed as she sat in the seat behind Justin, and watched Eagle's sure movements as he flew them to the place that Justin hoped that they could relax and enjoy the remainder of their life in peace away from the stress that her obviously cracked father was causing, and away from everything else that Angel knew. It was a fresh start, a new beginning, and he smiled as he watched his wife over his shoulder, as she attended to their twin sons.