Family is Everything - Linstead Fanfic

Chapter 9 - I'll Be Your Family

"Landon, honey, I haven't see you eat or drink a single thing in 2 days! You gotta at least drink water so you don't dehydrate." Gabby told Landon as he sat at the table, where he had been for the past couple days.

Ever since the accident, Landon couldn't bring himself to move from the table, aside from going to the bathroom. He'd even slept at the table. Erin had made it clear that she didn't want the kids at the hospital until Jay had woken up. She feared that it'd be traumatic for them to see their dad in that condition.

"I'm fine." Landon mumbled, Gabby looking at Hank with genuine concern.

"Landon, I'm making you food and you're eating it. Understood?" Cody said, stepping in since the adults clearly couldn't handle his brother.

Landon shrugged his shoulders, knowing nothing would be okay until his dad woke up and was healthy again.

-/:-/:

"Erin's back!" The little boy called as Erin walked into his hospital room. Erin had been visiting the little boy that Jay had tried to protect every few hours, every day.

She wanted to try and get some information from him about what had happened, but she couldn't resist his charming and funny personality, so they'd gotten close.

"Hi Andrew." Erin said, sitting in the chair next to him.

"Erin, did your husband wake up yet?"

"Uh, no. Not yet, honey."

"Oh. That's sad cause he saved my life."

Erin didn't know what to say so she just gave him a sad smile.

"You wanna see my favorite baseball team beat the Yankees?" Andrew asked excitedly, turning on the tv.

Erin watched as the screen turned on and showed the White Sox playing the Yankees.

"You're a Sox fan?" Erin asked him.

"Yep!"

"My husband would love you."

-/:-/:

"Em, how've you been since Dad got shot?" Cody asked his sister as she sat on the couch.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. It's just really scary not knowing how he is."

"Would seeing him make you feel a little better? Even just for a few minutes?" Cody had been trying to make his siblings happy the past few days, but couldn't really get to Emily because he'd been very worried about Landon. He still was, but he had gotten him to eat 3 pieces of pizza and drink a bottle of water before convincing him to go shower and take a nap in his bed.

"Yeah, I think it would help."

Cody nodded. "Okay, I'll go see what I can do."

-/-/-/

"I thought you agreed with Erin that you weren't letting the kids see Jay until he woke up." Will told Hank as he walked in with the kids.

"Well, they need to see him." Hank said, Gabby nodding in agreement.

"Can't argue that. Go ahead, Erin's in there."

The kids went into the room and Hank and Gabby left.

"Hi Mom." The kids said, joining her next to Jay.

"Oh, hey guys." Erin said, looking up at them.

"I know you said you didn't want us here, but-"

"It's fine, really. I'm happy you guys are here." Erin said, cutting Cody off.

They all sat around Jay for about 15 minutes before Erin stood up.

"Where're you going?" Emily asked.

"Come on, we're going to go visit my friend."

Erin led the kids to Andrew's room, telling them who he was and about her visits with him all the time.

"Hi Andrew, I have some people to introduce you to." Erin said, the boy perking up.

"These are my kids, Landon, Cody, and Emily."

"Hi, I'm Andrew."

-/-/

6:45 pm

"Hey, Erin. Hi kids." Jay said as Erin and the kids reentered Jay's room.

"Dad?! Jay?! You're awake?!" They all yelled, going crazy and hugging him, ecstatic he was awake and seemingly okay.

"How're you feeling, dad?" Landon asked, his attitude immediately improving.

"Not too shabby. How's the kid?"

They all smiled. "His name's Andrew and he is great. He's also really funny and a Sox fan!" Emily announced.

"I've been visiting him pretty often and I just took the kids to meet him. He kept asking about you. And, I'd originally said to keep these 3 away from the hospital, but Hank brought them here today and I'm really happy he did." Erin said with a smile, her thoughts all over the place, having so much to tell Jay.

"Yeah, me too. Hey, kids, you wanna go back and visit Andrew and tell him I'm awake? Also, I need to talk to Mom alone for a minute."

-/:-/:

"Andrew, he's awake!" Emily said as they all walked into his room.

"Really? Yes!" Andrew cheered.

"Alright, we're going to go grab some food and talk to Will for a little bit. You guys need anything?" Landon asked, Emily and Andrew shaking their heads 'no.' Landon and Cody left and Andrew turned to Emily.

"Wanna sit by me and watch some tv?" Andrew asked her.

"Yeah, sure. It's funny, but this kinda reminds me of when me and my brothers are sick; we all sit together and watch movies."

"I wish I had siblings." Andrew said glumly as he fumbled around for the remote.

"So, why aren't your parents here? Or anyone in your family?" Emily asked, not knowing that it was a sensitive matter.

"My mom killed my dad and she sent me away afterwards with a weird man. He hit me a lot, but so did my mom. But I'm safe now so I guess it's okay." Andrew said, not too worried about the tv anymore.

"So you don't have any family left?" Emily asked in disbelief, having never heard of the world's cruelty from somebody whose experienced it first-hand.

"Nope, just me."

"Well, I'll be your family."