We Are Free

Bad News

We get to ER. I check her in and they give us both a wrist band. We wait and she tells me about practice to take her mind off her wrist. They call us back and the nurse asked what happened.
She tells them what happened. The nurse checks her vitals and talks to her about gymnastics to keep her mind off of it. She leaves and we wait for the doctor.
He brings with him a small cup with a liquid for pain. She drinks it and he looks at her wrist.
"So what happened?" He asks her. I like this doctor he is really good with the kids.
"I fell off the balance beam at gymnastics practice." She says.
"Owie." She laughs a little. "Do you know how high the balance beam was?"
"It was a tall one." She has done handstand even back bends on a balance beam before they do it on the little ones before the big ones. Just because your good don't mean you won't fail.
"Okay when did it start turning colors?" The Doctor looks at me.
"I don't know I wasn't with her. My fiancé was. I can call her." I offer.
"That would be great."
"Okay." I call her and the doctor asks her questions. She answers them.
"Okay I want to order X-Rays for her." The doctor says.
"Okay." He leaves and the nurse comes in. She has me sign some things and takes Emily. They come back a few minutes later. They set her back in the bed and we wait. I give her my phone to play on.
"What if I can't do practice?" She asks me.
"We will have to cross that bridge when we get to it won't we."
"I guess." I smile and she moves her hair back. I pull it back into its pony tail and the doctor comes back in.
"So she does have some wrist fractures. I don't want to put a cast on it though. I want to put a splint on it. I want her to keep it on at all times. 
She may take it off to rest it but she can't move it needs to stay on a flat surface. I want her to shower with it on and wash her hand with a wash cloth to clean it.
No sports, gym, or physical activity until it is healed. We don't run the risk of hurting it again or worse if we do that. I will give her a note for practice and a note for gym. She should take Tylenol for pain." They put a splint on it. It wrapped around her hand and her fingers were useable.
It had three straps that went over the top. They give her a sucker and we leave the hospital. We go home and I tell Halo about it. We eat dinner and Halo does the dishes. She drops a plastic cup while doing them. She starts crying.
"Why are you crying?" I ask her.
"The cup fell." I start laughing. I hug her.
"It's okay, it's just a cup."
"I know." I pick the cup up and set it on the counter. She wipes her tears.
"Are you on your period?" I ask her.
"Yes how can you tell?" We start laughing and she finishes putting the dishes away.
"What do you want to do for Valentines Day?"
"I don't know. I was thinking a movie."
"That sounds nice maybe dinner?"
"Yeah."
"Should I call Anna?"
"Yup." I call her and she says she will watch the kids. We decide what restaurant to go to and what movie to see. It was kinda a girly chick flick but what ever makes her happy. The kids go to bed and Andrew has stopped throwing up.
I give him some of his medicine and his stomach gets upset but he doesn't throw up. I did some math with him. He wants me to stay home with him again. He sleeps on the couch. I sleep on the chair.
I sleep on and off and leave the tv on for light for him. He sleeps on and off to. I make sure it is on the cartoon channel so he has something to watch if he wakes up. In the morning Halo leaves for work and Emily leaves for school.
This year the practice schedule is different. The 4 times a week wasn't going over to well. She won't be doing practice at all until her wrist heals and she feels bummed about it. Halo is going to bring the note to her coach and the gym note was in her folder.
I make us something to eat and get him some juice to drink. I clean some things up and do the dishes. I do more laundry and put it away. I clean Andrew's room and pick up Emily's room.
I put their dirty clothes in the laundry room. I fold clothes and put them away. I just have laundry at this point and the amount of it makes me wonder what we really wear. I found like 3 things I forgot Emily had and I'm sure she did to.
I found all of Andrew's boxers and most of Halo's spandex. I also found a shirt I forgot I had. I am not where near the end of the laundry pile to. It scares me. I keep doing laundry and watching Ben 10 because it was a marathon and Andrew wanted to watch it.
The girls get home a little after three.
"I got most of the laundry done."
"You tamed the beast?" Halo asks shocked.
"Yeah I did I kicked its ass."
"How much did you find?"
"Oh you don't want to know."
"Okay then. Well the kids have spring break next month. What do we want to do?"
"I don't know Chloe is still going to be prego so I don't know about a vacation with them. I just don't know and I don't care. I will cross that bridge when I get to it."
"Okay."
"I have been thinking."
"Well that's scarier then the laundry pile."
"No nothing is scarier then that."
"Yeah you are right."
"Anyway I want a tattoo."
"Like a real tattoo?"
"Yeah I want a ink, go to the tattoo shop tattoo."
"What do you want?"
"I want to put warrior on my collar bone."
"Whatever makes you happy."
"Zac wants to go with and get a tattoo as well."
"Why didn't he just go get one when he turned 18?"
"He wanted to get one with me because he is a pansy."
"Makes sense. When do you want to go?"
"This weekend."
"Knock yourself out dude."
"I will." I finish the laundry pile and put the clothes away. Now we all have clothes. It was like Christmas all over again. Andrew takes his medicine and he sleeps in his room.
I want to keep him home tomorrow to then he can go back to school on Thursday. We eat dinner and go to bed around 9:00. We just lay down though.
"If you want to get a tattoo why not cover up that scar?" Halo asks.
"I don't want to cover it up." I state.
"Why?"
"Just like the rest of them it is part of me. Covering it up is like taking that away."
"I know but your collar bone is the only place you don't have scars."
"I know. I chose my collar bone because I have scars on my body and putting it there says that with all the scars I lived. I know they are small and most you can't feel or hardly see but they are there."
"I never thought of it that way."
"I have spent a long time thinking about it and just decided to go with it."
"What ever tickles your pickle dude."
"My pickle doesn't tickle." She starts laughing.
"Your welcome to try though. It can be tickled but it doesn't tickle." She laughs harder and I smile.
"That is scarier then the laundry pile."
"Well I think their might have been something crawling in there. I'm fine."
"Physically yes, mentally not so much."
"I may be a bad influence but damn I'm fun." She start laughing again.
"That is true."
"Damn it I wanna pickle now."
"I'm sure Zac is in bed Jace."
"Shut up ass hole."
"I couldn't resist."
"Well I guess not." She kisses me. We go to sleep. I'm sure I want to do this. Saturday Zac and I go to the tattoo shop. Andrew is feeling much better and Halo never got it. Emily is doing better but still upset about gymnastics.
We get to the tattoo shop. We tell them what we want. I take my shirt off and Zac does the same. He was getting one on his shoulder blade. They do the sticker on my collar bone.
The word will have an arrow going through it. Zac's it going to take a little longer.
"So almost every tattoo has a story. What's yours?" The lady doing it asks. I look down and let out a small laugh. I look back at her with a smile that shows my top teeth.
".Mom died, dad was a drunk who beat on me. I was 15-16 and I had two siblings. One was 5 the other 2. Dropped out of school, got a job. Raised them, and now I still do. They are 8 and 5 I am 19. I have a house I own, dad is locked up and I have a fiancé."
"I hear a lot of stories that's one of the good parts of this job. Yours however is just sad. I see why you chose this. What's your friend doing?"
"I don't know what goes through his mind. I don't want to either."She starts laughing as she starts doing the tattoo. It felt like I was coloring myself with a sharp pencil and it didn't really bother me. I sit there and wait for her to finish.
Zac had a funny look on his face. I smile at him. He flips me the bird and I try to hold still. She finishes my tattoo and she gives me care instructions for it. I put my shirt back on and wait for Zac.
"Man I need a video camera." I tell him.
"Shut up. " He glares at me. The guy doing his was laughing to.
"I have seen worse. He is just wiggling. I have seen it so that they come in thinking they are tough. The second it touches their skin they scream like little girls." I laugh at him. He ignores me but I know he will get me back. He finishes and is given care instructions. He puts his shirt back on and we leave. I drop him off at his house and go home myself. I get home and the kids want to see. I take my shirt off and show them the tattoo.
"Is it real?" Andrew asks.
"Yeah it never comes off."
"Never!"
"Never."
"That's crazy!" I start laughing at him. Emily had her mouth open.
"So it never ever ever ever comes off?"
"Nope."
"I know I say boys are stupid but this tops the cake." She walks away. I shake my head and Halo laughs. Andrew liked it. I show Halo and she likes it. I like it to.
*Valentines Day*
Early in the afternoon after they get lunch Anna picks them up. She got them each a teddy bear. Halo and I don't get ready until about 3:30.
We get dressed and wear something semi nice. I wear jeans and a black shirt with a leather jacket. She wears some skinny jeans and flats with a tank top and see through blouse. We go to dinner.
We sit at our table and get our drinks. We talk and order our food. We wait for it to come.
"Well I didn't get you any flowers this year." I say to her.
"That is okay."
"I have to pee."
"Okay." I get up and use the restroom. I go back to Halo and slide into the booth bumping into her.
"What I miss?" I ask.
"Nothing. Your goon texted me." She says.
"Really going to have to narrow it down."
"Zac."
"Ahhh what he want?"
"He wanted to know what we are doing. I told him. They aren't doing anything Chloe isn't up to it."
"Well she is like 6 months pregnant with 2 kids already. She is probably tired as all hell."
"Yeah. He said he cooked for her and got her some stuff."
"He better have or I will kick his ass."
"He did."
"Good." Our food comes and we sit down. We eat our food and pay for it. We leave the restaurant and go to the theater. I get the tickets and she gets the other stuff. We go into the theater and sit down.
We wait for the movie to start and shut our phones off. We talk for a little bit. Finally the movie starts and we watch it. I fall asleep because it was boring as all heck for me. She wakes me up when it is over. We go home.
"That was the dumbest movie I have seen since Frozen." I say.
"Frozen was cute." She says.
"Well that one was not."
"Yes it was."
"I am going to have nightmares tonight about shoes. Oh my gosh and I though you had a lot. I feel for her man." She starts laughing. I shiver. "That was scary." She laughs harder and I just keep driving. "That was awful."
     "You are fine."
     "Damn I need to see something rated R now. Like when Zac watches horror movies he needs to watch cartoons after." She starts laughing again.
     "That is true."
     "Chloe has bigger balls."
     "That is true." She starts laughing a little and we get home. We change our clothes. I leave a teddy bear and card on the bed. She puts them on top of her dresser. She sees them when I am in the bathroom. She hugs me when I come out.
     "The heat needs to be turned down because damn." I say. She starts laughing.
     "Yeah." I turn the heat down and we watch a movie. She falls asleep and so do I. It was successful today and I had a great time. She makes my life just that much better. I can't wait to marry her and call her mine forever.