How My World Changed Forever...Again

Making it Work

Rachel's POV
Before I can continue talking, Colleen's small, fragile body is falling into my arms. She runs into me so hard that I step back to keep my balance.  I carefully place my arms around her then say, "uh, Colleen. Let me finish; Parker is fine now.  I guess all the kids have been sick, but when Parker woke up in the middle of last night, he was doing that weird breathing thing that he does when he gets a cold.  Chris took him in to the ER around 3 this morning.  They immediately tested for pneumonia, thought it was positive and basically admitted him since he's so little.  Fast forward a few hours, they run tests again and find out he's completely fine.   They're back at home now, and Jess just told me in case, god forbid, something happened.  I told you which was obviously a mistake.  Really, this has happened before.  You need to calm down, Colleen."
     "I know.  Everything's fine!  God, why am I crying?!  It just seems like everything is wrong.  I can't make anything go right!  So many sick little kids!" Colleen says, "okay, I'm good," rubbing tears off her face.  "Um, actually, Katie, I need to talk to you about...some comments...on Instagram and YouTube."
     I know what she's talking about.  I've been reading what people have been saying on our videos and photos with the Leblancs.  None of it's good.  Katie says, "Sure."
     Colleen follows Katie down the hall.  She turns back to look at me and I shoot her a warning glance. "Remember what you're allowed to say." I mouth.

Colleen's POV
     My hands are sweaty as I follow Katie to a different room.  Rachel shoots me a glare; I know I need to be careful of what I say.
     "What's up?" Katie whispers, once we're out of earshot.
     "So, I'm sure you've seen the comments on the blindfolded makeup challenge and whatever promo photos you guys posted.  If you haven't, you need to.  They're really bad.  And if you think those are bad, you should see what people said on my video and pictures; it's amazing how different the same people react when they know who they're talking to.  I just want to apologize.  It's obviously my fault, and if I had known before, I would have advised you guys to be more careful.  I don't know if you know what I'm talking about or not but..."
     Before I can continue, Katie says, "Um, yeah.  We've seen it.  Billy used his parent magic tricks to make it so Annie can't see her Instagram comments, but people can still comment.  I'm sure you know, but it looks really bad and sketchy when you suspend comments.  She has never been allowed to read YouTube comments without our permission, and she knows that, so hopefully she isn't sneaking around.  And I just wanna say, it's not your fault.  If anyone knows, it's going to be you, twelve year olds on Instagram are very opinionated and there's nothing we can do about that.  We aren't used to seeing that much drama simply because ta a family vlog channel.  However, a little hate isn't going to scar the kids."
     I take a deep breath and say, "thanks.  But, do you know?  You're watching this all go down, but do you even know why?"
     Katie shifts her weight around uncomfortably.
     "It's fine," I say, reassuringly, "I'm fine"
     "I mean, yeah, yeah we do.  I don't really know all the crap.  I think Billy heard a lot from...Rebecca..." that name makes me cringe, "but I stayed out of it.    Just when Annie first posted the promo pictures, she saw the comments before we could.  She asked and we actually...told her a few things.  It was just "this is exactly what happened" and we basically said "look this person and this person got...".  I, you probably don't know, but we actually have hung out with..."
     I take a deep breath and say, "I do.  I do know.  After I saw all those comments, I scrolled back on your Bratayley Instagram to find pictures of you guys with...Matt and Rebecca.  As I went, I found one picture.  It seemed like it was from Billy's birthday a few years ago.  That was rough because I wasn't expecting it," I say smiling weakly.  "I just hope Rachel and my presence didn't ruin anything you had going on already."
     "It didn't.  We haven't seen the two in several months, and we only saw him the one time.  You look so sad!  I'm sorry hun!  My protective mom instincts are setting in!  Come here."
     If it would have been someone I knew well hugging me, I definitely would've lost it. 
     "I don't know what to do about the hate," I say, still in Katie's arms.
     "Don't worry about it.  Either it'll blow over or they'll just have to accept that this is a thing now."
     "Okay."
     I let go of her and say, "thank you."
     "One more thing!" I say, "how long do you want us here.  We really do love being here with the girls, but I know it's exhausting to host guests and I also know Rachel probably misses her husband more than she wants to admit."
Katie says, "I don't want you to be here to a point of too much stress on you. I know what it's like to be away from home for so long, and for you to not even be in a home you're comfortable in is a lot. I also don't want the girls to start depending on you two or thinking that I don't care anymore. I love those girls more than anything, and I can't have them watch my attention dwindle away. If you could stay for three more nights...? I think I can have my stuff together by then and be ready to take care of my own children."
"That sounds good. Yeah, we can do that. I'll tell Rach tonight. And hey, if you need something to get the girls out of here for a while ever, fly them out to LA and they can literally stay with me."
We both laugh. But I wasn't really kidding.