•Familia•

Chapter 14: A Secret Keeping Sleepover

Roni POV
We bring the kids home after we get the ok from Aaron. We let Adrian get all his stuff. The twins are still asleep in the car. Rebel is close to crashing. Nessa is taking care of Asher, who's currently crying because he's hungry.

"What happened?" I asks

"The missing persons report caused the police to find her location. It was at a house that Alex knew. They searched it and found Lauren and she gave the police this letter and two more to give to Alex" Kian says. He hands me the letter. I read it and my jaw drops.

"Where is he now and is he ok?" I ask

"He's in his room. We're giving him some space, but I think I'm going to stay here tonight. I just want to make sure he doesn't do anything crazy." Aaron says.

"Well I guess we'll take Asher And Adrian for as long as needed" Nessa says. She's happy about that because she gets to take care of a baby and that's what she wants.

"Fine by me" I say

"Me too" Kian says

"Well it's settled, I'll stay here for the night, you guys will take the kids. We'll meet up tomorrow and discuss the final plan for everything depending on what Alex wants to do." Aaron says. Nessa and I go upstairs to get some stuff for Asher and Adrian. We start asking Adrian what he wants for the trip. While we were packing we hear knocking. I peek out side the door to see where it's coming from. It's Adrian. He must have slipped out while we're packing. He's knocking on w Alex's door. I go to grab him but the door opens. I step back and watch from behind.

"What's wrong bud?" He asks as he opens the door. His eyes are red and cheeks are tear stained.

"Nothing. I just want to see you and know what's going on"

"Nothing is going on. Daddy is just working and I thought it would be nice if you stayed with your cousins, aunts, and uncles for awhile"

"Where's mommy?" I takes everything I have to not intervene and end the conversation right there.

"She's on a long business trip. She'll be back" he lies

"Can we call her?"

"She's in a different time zone and she's working but we'll try" he lies again.

"Ok" Adrian says. He happily skips off after saying I love you to Alex. Alex close the door back. I go back to packing his stuff like I never heard the conversation.

"I'm ready for my sleepover" Adrian says when he walks in.

"Ok, your stuff is all ready. Aunt Nessa got all of Asher's stuff ready. I think it's time to go. You can grab what ever toys that you want."

"Ok" he says. He grabs a handful of his favorite toys and runs down the stairs. We load the kids and all the things in the car. I hop into the front seat. I roll down the window to tell Aaron goodnight. The twins are still asleep so they'll have to call him tomorrow. I give him a kiss on the lips and wave him off. We pull out the driveway. I'm determined to make this sleepover great for Adrian. I don't know what's going to happen at home and I want this to be his escape so he doesn't have to worry about that. I want to give him room to be a child. He deserves it.

We get home. All the kids bedtime is normally eight o'clock but right now it's 8:15 and none of them are showing any signs of being tired. The twins woke up as soon as we got to the house so I know it going to be at least an hour before they're ready to go back to sleep. Even Asher looks wide awake and hungry too. I'm already on it as I heat up some water to make him a bottle. Nessa feeds it to him as I turn in the TV on the second floor in the kids room and down stairs in the living room. The kids spend thirty minutes running up and down and playing with toys until they get hungry. There is no way they're getting anymore sugar tonight. They'll be wired again and crash again. It'll be a never ending cycle. I fix them a healthy snack of some fruit and goldfish and let them keep playing. I hold Asher while Nessa goes to take a shower. She's taken full responsibility of him and I don't mind. At first it seems easier to do that than take care of four kids but trust me, when night comes and the crying starts, it'll definitely be the harder job. I also don't mind because I see the light in her eyes when she holds him. She really wants a baby. For the time Alex can't, she's going to parent that baby and she's going to love him like he's her own. I don't think he'll ever have to worry about not having his biological mom in his life because he'll have me and he'll definitely have Nessa. I think she's going to be a great mom again.

The kids start to wind down a little. Nessa and I work on getting all five of them a bath. We let them watch a movie while playing with some toys. They finally start to go to sleep after watching at least half of Aladdin. Kian, Nessa, and I carry them to bed. We go our separate ways to get ready for bed. I get wrapped up in bed and put on Netflix. It's been a long day and when I say I'm tired, I mean I'm really tired. I'm beyond tired, I'm exhausted. I go to check my phone for the last time for tonight and to check on Aaron. The text message I see makes me automatically realize that my day isn't over. This might be a twenty four hour one.

Call me ASAP, Alex is in the hospital