I Want To Be With You...Everywhere

Chapter 50: I'll Be Fine

Osmond came down the stairs to meet the family for dinner.

"Hi honey, where's Ameera? is she not hungry?" asked Barbara.

"She said she's not hungry," he stated.

"Well, you're more than welcome to have dinner with us," she mentioned.

"No, it's alright. I don't feel comfortable eating when she's not," he stated honestly.

"Alright..." Barbara trailed not liking the answer. "Can I offer you some ice?" she asked looking at his busted lips and swollen jaw.

"Uh, sure... thanks," he kind of hesitated. He put his hand to his jaw since that was bothering him the most.

"That was a rough fight," Jess mentioned as he pushed the chair out for the young man to sit.

"Yeah," Osmond rose his brow lightly as he sat.

"Here you go," Barbara handed him the ice. "I have a cream you can put on that cut before bed."

"Thank you," he said solemnly as he recieved her help.

She nodded as she turned to fix her husband's plate of food.

"Damn it," he whispered harshly as he the ice hit the swollen part of his jaw. "Y'know, that kid hit pretty hard," he mentioned.

"I'm sure he went home with something messed up," Jess chuckled. He'd noticed Osmond pretty strong looking and he was buff. He wasn't surprised if he Osmond broke something of Houston's.

"I didn't really hit him. I pinned him down---I didn't wanna hurt him. Ameera would've been really mad at me," he rested his elbow on the table.

"You care for her a lot, don't you?" Barbara asked---a smile to follow.

"Yeah, I do---" he responded with a nod. "She's perfect," he assured.

Jess found that on the sweet side and he could see the love this kid had. He couldn't say anything about young love because, his daughter proved to him that it existed. His daughter fell in love with Lindsey at the age of seventeen and they'd been together---knowing each other for thirty years and married for twenty-two. He couldn't necessarily say it was a crock of shit. He and his wife had gotten married at the age of twenty and twenty-three. He just thought it was the third generation of Nicks' women to fall in love that way.

"I appreciate your help," Osmond began to excuse himself. "I'm gonna head to bed."

"Feel free to lay down with Ameera if she gets nightmares again."

He nodded in assurance. He wasn't sly about it at all, but as if it were a mission, more or less.

"Very trusting, I see," Barbara teased her husband after Osmond had disappeared. She sat down to join him.

"Like a said: he's a good kid. I see a lot I like in him," he leant forward to begin eating.

—

Osmond made his way to the guestroom where he was more involved in his jaw than anything. He lightly pressed his figertips into his beautifullly chiseled face.

"Angel?" Ameera's faint voice called as she heard his footsteps.

"Yeah?" he asked as he stood in the doorway.

"Are you okay? I meant to ask if your-- well face was okay," she stood to meet him in the doorway. She lightly brushed her fingers across jaw and over his cheekbone.

"I'm fine. It's gonna be a little sore for the next few days, but I'll be fine."

"Okay," she said sounding a little small.