Dreams: Joe 01

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, and it was created solely by me as the author. Any similarities to characters, businesses, places, or things are all happenstance, though my appreciation to those who have

inspired

my works is immense. YSI, as always.

Author's Note:

This is the first part in the second series about the Nickels family. I believe many of you have come to love Bekah, Dave, Joe, Ame, Nancy, Bob, and Nana. (Who doesn't love Nana?!) This one is about Joe. It has somewhat of a slow buildup into the hot and heavy scenes, but my stories are STORIES, so many details make for fun, exciting, and interesting plot lines. And there's a lot of overlap from Bekah's story, but from Joe's POV. "Oh,

that's

why..." is what I'm going for. Questions and comments are welcome. Please take the time to rate this story also. I hope everyone will be kind.

Dreams: Joe 01

"Hi. You must be new here," she greeted him when she walked up to him as he stood at his locker. "I'm Amelea Nicholson. Well, I go by Ame. And you are?"

"Uh, Joe," he answered and continued staring at her. "Oh, um, Joe Nickels."

"Huh," Ame replied. "Well, nice to meet you, Joe. Maybe I'll see you around," she suggested as she walked across the hall to her own locker.

Joe watched her walk away and smiled as he turned back to his locker. Maybe this new school would work out after all. He grabbed his book for his first class and slammed his locker. The noise was the last thing he heard before he woke up.

Joe sat up and shook his head. He'd had that same dream each night for the last week. Ame. He hadn't seen her since high school graduation. Why was he dreaming about her? He remembered the actual encounter of what he kept dreaming about. Ame had continued to be a friendly face and a nice classmate, especially when they were in classes together. With their last names being so close, they often sat near each other and did in fact sit next to each other at graduation.

"I wonder what ever happened to her?" he asked aloud. He shook his head again and sat back against the headboard of his bed. He liked being down in the basement. He was basically left alone, but he always had family just up the stairs if he wanted to see them.

Joe got up and walked over to his bathroom to get ready for work. He had a nice job and made decent money. His parents had paid for his four-year college experience. Because the college was in a neighboring town, he had remained living at home.

When his family had gotten the house, there had been a similar family dynamic within it which basically sold his parents on it. Joe got the bedroom in the basement which had its own full bathroom. His parents got the main floor master bedroom which had its own full bathroom too. There were two guest bedrooms and a guest bathroom on the main floor, and then there was Dave's room. Dave was Joe's younger brother. Dave got the upstairs bedroom which had its own full bathroom as well.

At this time of year, though, Joe only thought of it as

their

bedroom, meaning the bedroom of Dave and his best friend, Rebekah Kuhn, or "Beck-Beck" as Joe had insisted on calling her. Christmastime wasn't complete until Beck-Beck joined them for the festivities, which usually began around the 22

nd

of December until New Year's Eve. Beck's family kinda sucked. Since the first Christmas after the Nickels family had moved into their house five years earlier, Beck-Beck's family had begun going away and basically dumping her onto their family for the time they were away. As soon as she had her first Nickels Christmas, she hadn't wanted to do anything else, and truth be told, the Nickels family didn't want her to be anywhere else either.

Joe checked the calendar and crossed off the day before now that it was Tuesday, December 20

th

. He only had to work until Thursday, and then he was off until after New Year's. He still had about five Christmas presents to get, but he'd get them in time. He always did.

Joe got home in time to play a game before dinnertime. Dave would be working until 8PM at the supermarket where he'd been working since he'd turned 16. Joe assumed that meant Beck-Beck wouldn't be over until after that, if she would be there at all. Oh, who was he kidding? Of course she'd be there once Dave got home.

Joe thought of their neighbor and honorary family member, Rebekah Kuhn, like a sister, but Dave had been possessive of her since they'd attended their first dance in high school, so unless Dave was with her, Joe didn't bother asking if she wanted to come play games with him. It wasn't like Joe was going to make a move on her because, well,

ew

... she was basically like a little sister to him. And while she and Dave had never been romantically involved, he wouldn't put it past them to suddenly realize they were meant to be together.

At around 7:30PM, while Joe was rummaging through the fridge for the dinner leftovers, Dave came screaming down the stairs.

"Bekah fell off the roof!" he exclaimed and ran past Joe toward his parents' room and the side door which they almost always used.

"What?" Joe asked as he closed the fridge. He watched as Dave put on his boots and coat and flew out the side door.

"Don't touch her, Dave! She might have a neck injury!" Dad yelled at him as he put on his own boots and coat. Mom was dialing on her phone and holding it to her ear.

"Yes, we've had an accident." Mom went on to give the address and her best guess about what had happened.

Joe couldn't figure out what Bekah had been doing on the roof. She used to climb up the trellis ladder thing against the house, but when it snowed as it had been all day, there was no way she would have been stupid enough to climb it. He shook his head and figured Beck would get up and laugh about it. There was so much snow out there that she probably just...

"She's not waking up!" Mom yelled at Joe from the doorway.

"What?" Joe asked again. He walked over to put on his shoes and coat and joined his brother.

"Come on, Beck," Dave called to her. "Please be OK," he whispered and looked in the direction of the oncoming sirens. "Oh, thank God," he sighed. "Beck, you're going to be OK," Dave assured her and stood back as Dad pulled him away from her.

"Was she moved at all?" the EMT asked as he assessed her.

"No, she fell from up there," Dave told him as he pointed to the roof. "She normally climbs up there to my room, but not when it's like this. I don't know why..." he trailed off.

"OK, we're going to put a neck brace on her for now just to make sure she doesn't have any injuries there. The sooner we take her into the hospital, the quicker we can assess her injuries," he informed them. "Let's go!" he yelled at his teammate and helped raise the stretcher and headed for the truck.

"Dude, what happened?" Joe asked Dave.

"I don't know," he responded as he put his head down. "I came out of the shower, found the window open, and ran over to shut it because I thought maybe Bekah was playing a trick on me. Just as I put my hands on the window, I caught sight of her on the ground. She must have slipped off the roof as she tried taking a step into the room."

Without a word, Dad reached over to the trellis and ripped it off the side of the house. Once he'd brought it to the back of the house to deal with later, he came back and pointed at Dave. "Get back up there and close the window. Get ready, and we'll head to the hospital. I'll have your mother let Harold's lawyer know what happened. We'll either get sued or compensated for dealing with it while they're away."

When Dave came round the corner from the direction of his room, Joe realized more than one vehicle might be a smart idea. "I'll drive separately so we have more than one car there, Dave," Joe offered. Dave nodded appreciatively. Joe ran downstairs to grab his phone. He figured he'd call his boss to let him know the situation in case he couldn't get into work the next day.

Joe followed his parents on the way to the hospital and made the call. "Hey Al, it's Joe," he began. "My brother's... um,

girlfriend

had an accident, and I'm on the way to the hospital with my family," he shared and held back tears. "I just wanted to let you know what was going on in case, um..."

"Joe, you're off until after the first of the year. I was going to head into work tomorrow to surprise everyone by sending them home, but you go and be with your family." He paused and sighed into the phone. "Joe, I hope she's OK. I'm really sorry to hear that. Keep me posted, OK?"

"Yeah," Joe choked out. "Thanks, boss," he offered and hung up. "Come on, God," Joe prayed. "She's already got a crappy homelife. Don't take her away from us. She's the little sister I never had," he pleaded. "Don't let this ruin our Christmas."

They pulled into the hospital parking lot, and Dad walked in with his arm around Mom. Dave had his phone to his ear and was nodding as he spoke quietly. When Joe got closer to him, he heard Dave say, "I know, Nana. I promise as soon as we know something, we'll call to let you know."

Joe and his family sat in the waiting room to hear the report on Bekah. They jumped every time a doctor or nurse came out of the swinging doors. Finally, a couple hours later, a woman came out wearing a doctor's coat and asked, "Rebekah Kuhn's family?"

Dave jumped up and ran to the doctor. Joe and his parents walked up behind him and waited. "Hi, my name is Dr. Whitney. I've been looking over Rebekah's scans and injuries. Truth of the matter is, she got very,

very

lucky. Now, she's not awake. We believe based on the scans and tests we've run that she is in a coma. But she doesn't have a bruise or scratch on her. The snow was her saving grace here."

"Can we see her?" Dave asked when she'd stopped talking.

"I'm going to let you in to see her, but only for a short time. I won't know more until she wakes up, unfortunately. Again, my name is Dr. Whitney. Please have a nurse contact me if you have any questions. For now, we have to wait to see how she does."

"Thank you, Doctor," Mom told her and the rest of them nodded. Dr. Whitney asked them to please follow her to the room. Joe followed the rest of them and watched as Dave approached her first. Dave brought a chair up to the bed and took Bekah's hand into his own and kissed it. Joe

knew

there was more to their relationship. He wondered when kissing had entered the equation.

"Rebekah, we're here for you," Mom began speaking and reached over to touch her other hand. "One of us will be here the whole time you're in... while you're sleeping, sweetheart. We love you," Mom assured her and walked over to the other side of the room.

"Hang in there, kiddo," Dad told Bekah and touched her foot. "And I'm just throwing this out there, but climbing up the trellis to get into Dave's room is now off limits, Rebekah. Regular doors from now on, please," he requested as he teared up and wiped his face quickly. He went over to stand by Mom.

Joe walked over to his parents and told them to go ahead and go home to sleep for the night. "I already called my boss to let him know what was going on, and I'm off work now until the end of the year. I've got my car so I can leave if I need to, but I'm going to stay through the night so Dave isn't alone. You know he isn't going to leave her, so I'll be in the waiting area or checking on Dave as needed. I'll call you if there are any changes."

"Thank you, Joe," Dad told him and patted his back. Dad then put his arm around Mom and left the room.

"Dave, I'm going to stay the night, so if you need anything, I'll either be in the waiting area or in the corner over there sleeping. You going to be OK?"

Dave nodded. "I was going to tell her that I was in love with her tonight, Joe," he admitted and put his face in his hands. "I realized it on Halloween. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her, you know," he declared as he sniffed a laugh and wiped his face, "if she makes it through this."

"She's gonna make it through this, Dave," Joe insisted and put his hand on Dave's shoulder. "She's going to be fine." Joe walked to the other side of the bed and picked up Bekah's hand. "You're going to be fine, Beck-Beck," Joe maintained.

Joe walked over to the couch and sat back on it and put his head back as he closed his eyes. "Come on, God," he pleaded in his quietest voice. "Get her through this please."

"God, I can't lose her," Dave said aloud. "I love her. I trust in Your plan," he cried, "but I'm begging you to just let me tell her how I feel. Please give me the chance to tell her how I feel," Dave sobbed and put his face in his hands again. Joe got up and put his hands on his brother's shoulders.

"Hang in there, bro," Joe encouraged and leaned down to hug him as he stood behind him. Joe stood up and sat back on the couch. He was asleep shortly after that as he listened to Dave talk to Bekah about all the things he loved about her.

When Joe woke up, he found Dave asleep in the chair. It was light out, so Joe knew it was morning. He stood up and stretched before walking over to Beck-Beck to kiss her forehead. "Good morning, Beck-Beck. I hope this coma is healing the damage from that fall. I hope you're having good dreams. Dream a little about Dave. I bet he'd love to hear that. And hang in there, kid. I'm kinda used to having you around. It'd suck to lose you now. I love you, ya know," he whispered.

Joe looked over at Dave and shook his head. He walked out of the room to find the restroom. He planned to text his parents after that so he could head home to rest for a while.

At 8AM, Joe's parents walked into the hospital and stood by the chair Joe was sitting in. "Where's Dave?" Dad asked.

"You really need to ask?" Joe responded.

"Did he leave her side at all?" Mom asked him.

"Nope, but in fairness, I was in the room all night too. He sat in the chair right next to her bed."

"Think I'll be able to get him to go home?" Dad asked Joe.

"Not a chance," Joe responded. "I'm heading that way though. Should I grab some clothes for them from his dresser?"

"I already did that," Mom replied and held up the bag she had in her hand. "We'll call or text you. Nana might want to come up here."

"Alright. Keep me posted," Joe requested and left the hospital.

Joe went home and crashed in bed for the next several hours. When he woke up, he texted Dave to let him know he'd be there if Dave needed him. He told him he kept praying for Beck-Beck and told him to hang in there.

Joe played a few games and then responded to his boss Beck-Beck's status along with apologies that he hadn't let him know sooner. He went upstairs to find some food in the fridge and sat at the table in the empty house. "This sucks," Joe said aloud and put his head in his hand as he finished his sandwich.

Joe continued to hang around the house, played video games, took a long, hot shower, and tried watching a movie until around 7PM when he was texted by Mom that she needed him to come back to the hospital to take their place. He grabbed his keys and headed for the door.

Dave looked to be in pretty bad shape. Joe stood in front of him and handed him his keys. "Dude, go home for an hour. Just an hour. Spend most of that time in the shower. Get rid of the crap you're carrying. The worry, the fear, the anxiety. Just stand there and let it wash off you. Then come back. It'll help, bro. Just an hour. I'll take your place by the bed and make sure she's not alone. I promise." Joe shook the keys in front of him and waited for Dave to take them. Dave finally snatched them from him and walked out of the room.

Mom walked over to Joe and kissed his cheek. "Thank you. I don't think anyone else could have gotten him to go."

Joe didn't respond because he didn't know what to say. He watched as his parents walked out of the room and took Dave's place in the chair next to the bed.

"Part of me wants to grab you by the shoulders and shake you awake, Beck-Beck. I wish you knew how much Dave is hurting right now." He shook his head and grabbed Bekah's hand. "But the fact of the matter is, you need to take this time to heal up so you can come home. Come home to us, Beck-Beck. We love you so much," he cried and put his face to her hand on the bed.

"Please, God, bring her out of this so she can come home. Please give us a Christmas miracle." Joe raised his head and reached for the tissues which had been laid on the floor next to Dave's chair. He put his head back down on the bed and rested his hand on Bekah's.

"Joe. Joe, wake up, dude," Dave said to him as he touched Joe's shoulder.

Joe woke up and sat back as he inhaled deeply. "Aw, Dave. Sorry, man." Joe stood up and put his hand on Dave's shoulder. "Feel better?"

"A little, I guess," Dave admitted and shrugged. "The shower was a good idea." Dave stood in front of Joe and shook his head. "Why?" he asked in a whisper. "Why'd she choose to come up to the window?" Joe stepped forward to put his arms around Dave and got pushed away. "Dammit, Joe!" Dave hissed so as not to yell. "What was she thinking?" Joe stepped forward again and brought Dave into his arms.

As Dave cried against his older brother, Joe held him against himself. "I know, bro." Dave finally stepped back and took his seat again next to Bekah.

"Thanks for sticking around here, Joe," Dave told him as he took Bekah's hand into his. "I appreciate it."

Joe sat back on the couch. He watched the interaction between Dave and Bekah. He watched the way Dave reached out to touch Bekah's arm and face, the way he kissed her hands, the way he spoke to her as if she was sitting there listening to every word. Man, Joe hoped he'd have someone mean that much to him one day.

Joe sat back and thought about his own situation. He had his college degree. He'd been working with his company since he was 17. He knew it was what he wanted to do, so he'd found a company that would take a chance on him. He had worked his way up from the lowest position and was now a senior analyst.

In his old high school, he'd dated a few girls, but none seemed to be worth keeping. When his family had moved to their new house, he'd had to move to a new high school. Dave still had a year left in middle school, and that's where he'd met Beck-Beck. Since Joe had just one year left before college, he'd hardly gotten to really know many people in the new school.

That dream he'd had on and off for the last two weeks was an accurate depiction of what he remembered his first day being like. Ame had been the first student to speak to him and, now that he thought about it, the last one to speak with him at graduation. She'd looked over and grabbed his hand before they had stood up and wished him "congratulations." He stood up and took her hand to help her stand up and then hugged her before throwing his cap into the air. And that was that. He'd heard she'd gone away for school, but that was all. He hadn't seen her since then.

Joe put his head back and listened to Dave telling Bekah all the things he loved about her again. Yep, he'd love to find someone who was there for him as much as he wanted to be with her. Yep, he'd love to be with someone who made him feel special. Yep, he'd love to be with someone who made him a better person. He wanted all those things.

Joe woke up as the doctor walked in. Dr. Whitney had been in to check on her whenever she was on shift. She looked like she was about to finish up, so it must have been early morning. He sat up and waved as the doctor checked Bekah over. Dave remained sleeping.

"How long have they been a couple?" Dr. Whitney asked Joe as she wrote some notes.

"Uh, Doc," Joe stated hesitantly as he stood up to stretch, "that's a loaded question. They've been best friends for over five years. She's like part of the family. But, uh, between you and me, he's finally figured out that he's in love with her. Even if he hadn't figured it out a couple months ago, this would surely have put him over the edge."