The Next Step:Jiley's story

The Last Time

Today is the day I'm picking James up from the hospital, I'm so excited but almost nervous because last time he was released from the hospital he ended up almost dead. I'm just getting Amelia dressed but she's not making it easy, she's trying to tell me she can do it by herself but I know she can't so I just put up with the irritated drama queen. "Mommy, please can you tell Josh that he's actually being very annoying?" Dom says from the door, I look over at him and laugh, him and Isaac are both going through a phase where they say everything really polite and posh "Mommy, it's not actually very funny at all, in fact I find it very very naughty." he says with a frown on his face, I try and not laugh and take him seriously "What is Josh doing that's a problem?" I ask him already knowing it'll be nothing "You see, he's pulling faces at me, Isaac and Oscar "Can you go and get him for me please?" I ask him, he smiles seeming happy with the result he got and nods his head, I turn my attention back to Amelia who is now trying to pull some socks on herself but not doing a great job "Can Mommy help you?" I ask her she looks up and pulls a face before turning back to her sock, I sigh and decide to let her try for a few minutes, I start to clean up the mess her and Lottie seem to magically generate in there room "Mommy, I didn't mean to be bad, I'm sorry." Josh says from the door I turn to look at him and nod accepting his apology when really I don't think he even needed to "That's alright, just go and say sorry to your brothers and then tell them all to come upstairs so we can get ready to leave," he nods his head and then runs out of the room. I walk into Josh, Isaac and Dom's room to see that they have made an absolute mess, sighing I start picking it up and tiding it away before I hear a stampede of tiny feet running up the stairs, I leave the boys room to go and start finding all of their coats seeing as it's the begging of September and starting to get colder. "Mommy I don't want to wear my coat." Lottie says from behind me, I turn around "Lottie, I don't care if you don't want to wear it, you are wearing it and you will do what I say." I snap, I know I shouldn't but I just want to get out if the door and pick James up and they're all just refusing, her face crumples and tears dribble down her cheeks, I forgot just how sensitive she is "Sorry Lottie, but we just need to get out of the door." I tell her to try and minimize the tears she nods and walks up to me with her arms outstretched and hugs my legs, I would pick her up but when you're holding eight coats it's kind of hard so I just stroke her head and then she lets go "Can I have my coat?" she asks, I smile and nod handing it down to her, she can out it on and I'll do the zip in a minute, she runs off and then I go and find the others to get a coat on them all.

Eventually we all get out of the house and into the car, I start driving whilst listing to "the complete set of nursery rhymes"  the things mothers do. "The wheel on the bus go round and round...." I hear from the back of the car, all of them are singing along together, it's so cute to listen to. I smile and decide to join in with the next verse, it's going to be a good car journey.

We pull up outside the hospital and I start unclipping them from their seats and getting them to all hold hands because I only have two and we're in a busy hospital car park. We walk towards the main entrance, even though we've all walked from the car park to the door, this time it feels different because today James is coming home. We walk in and the reception who I've got to know quite well recently nods her head at me before making a comment "I've heard James is coming home today, am I right?" she asks I nod with a huge smile across my face, the more people say  it the more realistic it becomes, James really is coming home today "Yup, I'm pretty excited." I reply before leading all the kids through the winding corridors that I've learnt like the back of my hand, all I can think is that this is the last time. The last time walking down the emergency corridor, last time passing the little shop, last time walking past the pharmacist, the last time I'll ever have to visit James in hospital, hopefully. 

We get to his door and I don't bother knocking because I just really wanted to get him home. I walk into a sight that I didn't expect, the trauma team all surrounding his bead whilst different people were shouting thing that I only heard snippets of "Flat line." "Un-responsive." "Dying." "Blood." "Stop." I didn't know what to do, James was dying again, he'd flat lined, I'd lost him , and now they were giving up on him, I couldn't handle this, is this the last time James ever takes a breath? "What's going on?" I shout over all the different doctors in the room, they all turn around and they all look at me seriously, besides one younger doctor who's trying to supress a smile, I'm so confused, is James really dead? "I'm afraid to tell you that..." he says, I don't know what to do, I can't have lost him "you were just pranked by doctors." they all say at the same time, I breath a deep sigh of relief and then see James sit up with a smirk on his face "Really?" I challenge him, did he really think that it was okay to joke about him dying because I sure don't think it is "Come on Riles, it was pretty great." he says whilst swinging his legs over the edge and walking towards me, he pulls me into a tight hug and I know I forgive him, it was just James being James. The doctors all excuse themselves and then I remember the kids all stood outside because I made them stay out there because I thought something serious had happened. I then pull away and let them all in. They all dart towards James covering him in little arms, I can see he's in a bit of pain but he puts up with it because I know he's trying to make up for the weeks he's not been at home. "Anyway, we should get going." I say and he agrees, then we all walk out of the hospital, hand in hand.

We all get home and I start making lunch, even though the kids don't eat much themselves, eight kids put together can get through a lot of food. I look out of the kitchen to see James throwing leaves at all the kids, it's so cute to watch the all playing again like nothing ever happened. I hear my phone buzz and look down to see I have a text off Luke, James' ex-band mate, he left the band a few months ago because he was struggling managing parenthood, studio management and the band. I unlock my phone and read the text

Luke: We just got back from the international tour, and were wondering if James was out of hospital, we missed him on the tour, text back a good day to pop over, Luke.

I smiled, it was nice that they cared about James so much, I called James n and asked him when they should come over "well there's no time like the present." he told me, I nodded and replied

Me: He got out of hospital today and we see no reason why you can't all come over now, Riley

I go back to preparing lunch but in no time at all my phone pings again and I see I have a reply from Luke

Luke: Sounds great, we'll be round in half an hour

Okay, that means we have time to all eat lunch and get cleaned away, providing Isla doesn't kick up as fuss about the food

Me: Okay, see you in a bit

We finish lunch and Isla only complains about the crusts, I'm pretty impressed, normally she would complain about at least three things. I was just cleaning the dishes whilst James was trying to teach the older five how to tumble, I refused to watch, when the doorbell went off "I'll get it babe." James shouted from the living room, seconds later I heard the door open and heard the band walk in, they were global stars now but with no drummer. I finished drying up and walked into the living room to see James trying to convince a shy Oscar into fist bumping John, but he refused and just his behind James' leg, as soon as he heard me walk in he ran over and stretched his arms up, I picked him up and then went over to sit on the sofa with Luke, Theo and a very chatty Lottie, she loved being the centre of attention sometimes "If she's bothering you just tell her to be quiet, she'll get over it." I tell the boys but the both shake their heads, clearly engaged in whatever a one year old has to say, but to be honest they probably have the same mental age...

"Hey bro, can we have a word." I hear John say to Luke after a few minutes, I turn to look at him and then he drags James away, I'm confused but knowing John and James it'll be nothing important. I carry in playing with the kids with a bit of help from Theo and Luke, apparently Isla wants us to play with the dolls she got for her birthday but the boys don't want to so there is basically world war three that I need to calm down, but ah well.

After about half an hour I hear John and James coming back downstairs, they walk into the living room and I feel James' hand tap my shoulder, I turn around to see him telling me to follow him upstairs, confused I follow him and we end up in one of the spare rooms "Okay, what I'm about to tell you seems really far fetched but trust me on this one." he starts, growing increasingly confused I just nod my head and let him continue "Basically, about a year and a half ago John and Michelle slept together, and then John came over to me asking about what he should do and I told him to give Michelle some space, because she was with Eldon at the time but clearly wanted to be with John, what John didn't work out was that when I said give her some space, I didn't mean avoid her 100% of the time for a year and a half. Anyway the band were at Lost and Found earlier and Michelle and Eldon happened to be in the studio, they bumped into each other and John found out that Michelle had a baby who must have been conceived at about the same time as when they slept together, so Evie is probably John's baby." James said really quickly, it took me a few seconds to digest what I'd just been told, and when I did, I was in shock, how could Evie not be Michelldon's? I looked at James to check this wasn't all a joke but he genuinely looked serious, for once.....