Sorry for the delay but a lot has gone on since the last chapter was posted. Thanks as always to Devir Ginator for his editing skills. A nod to the real life Jessica who is still as amazing today as she was since day one. And a huge thanks to you, the readers, for the comments, messages and votes! Stay safe out there!
****
Sunday
Jessica woke to sound of her father's light snoring from her bedside. She opened her eyes and carefully stretched in her darkened room. Everything still felt sore but not as bad as yesterday. She could see that the sun had just begun to rise, from her window, as she slid from her bed. She eased her way to her bathroom to relieve herself because she still didn't want to rely on the bedpan.
"I can do this," She said to herself as she quietly shuffled past her sleeping father glad that she was no longer attached to the IV drip for her ongoing pain relief.
She didn't want to try and drag that thing around nor did she want to wake her dad to get him to help her to the bathroom. Her mom had taken Sarah back home just before Jessica fell asleep the night before in the hopes that they would be able to get some sleep. She thought that she heard Jake's mom stop by as she drifted off to sleep but she wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. She would ask her dad once he woke up if that really happened. As she washed up she decided that she would walk down and see Jake. They had told her that her doctor wanted her to walk around some before they would discharge her so she figured that she might as well get an early start on that. She crept past her dad again and started to pull on her robe when her door opened.
"Jess, are you awake?" Roxie whispered as she poked her head into the room.
"I am but dad's sleeping," Jessica whispered back. "What are you doing here so early?"
"I spent the night with Jake," Roxie said. "Not like that, Jessica. Stop smirking at me."
"I wasn't," Jessica said. "At least until you tell me how he's doing. Then you might get one of my smirks."
"You're feeling better," Roxie noted.
"I am somewhat," she answered.
"I'll say," Roxie said. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To see Jake," Jessica answered.
"Should you be walking around so soon?" Roxie asked as she grasped Jessica's good arm.
"The doctor wanted me to walk around some before they discharge me," Jessica explained. "I figured that I could get some practice in and see how Jake is at the same time."
"This feels like such a bad idea, Jess," Roxie said.
"It's fine," she said. "Even better since you're here because I know that you won't let anything bad happen to me, Roxie."
"Don't try and kiss up to me, Tall Girl," Roxie smiled. "The only bribes that work for me are food related and you know it."
"I can get you some fries from Smitty's once I'm out," Jessica offered then shook her head. "No, Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I can have mom bring some over when she comes."
"Remind me to kick Jake's butt when he's better for letting you in on how to bribe me," Roxie snorted as she led Jessica out into the hallway. "Hey, shouldn't you leave your dad a note or something?"
"He'll probably sleep until we get back, Rox," Jessica told her.
"Wait here, Jess," she said. "I might as well try to minimize the trouble that you're about to get me into."
"We're not..." Jess started to argue but Roxie had already ducked back into the room.
She emerged a few moments later and took Jessica by the arm again.
"All right, Tall Girl, let's do this," she said. "I left a note on your pillow telling him that you took me hostage and are forcing me to walk you down to Jake's room. That should save me from getting chewed out too much by your folks."
"You know they would never chew you out, Rox," Jessica said as they started down the hallway. "We'll probably be back before mom even gets here."
"I'm not counting on that," Roxie said. "I will count on her bringing Sar-bear back and she will defend me."
"You know that she will," Jessica smiled.
"I'm surprised Staci isn't still here," Roxie commented as they turned toward the elevators.
"I made her go home to try and rest," Jessica said. "She wanted to stay again last night but she had barely slept and I could tell that it was getting to her. Ray said that he would make sure that she got some sleep. You look like you've barely slept, Roxie."
"It's tough trying to sleep in Jake's room with all the beeping that's going on in there but I got enough to keep you upright for a little while longer," she assured her. "C.C. is coming by to pick me up in about an hour to take me home and I'll sleep some more then."
"That's good," Jess said. "Rox, how... how does he look today?"
"From what I could tell, he looks better," she answered. "His swelling is down a lot and his color has come back so he looks more like himself now."
Jessica reached down and pressed the call button for the elevator then looked at Roxie.
"You must really be worried about him, Rox," she said. "You didn't even take a swipe at Jake's looks when you had a chance."
"I'm too mentally tired for all that, Jess," she admitted. "It's been a very long weekend and I've been worried about you two too much."
Jess smiled and pulled Roxie into a hug. They held each other until the elevator chimed that it had arrived. Jess leaned down and kissed Roxie on her cheek.
"I love you too, Rox," Jessica whispered. "Now help me get to Jake because I miss him and I need to see him."
****
Jessica and Roxie entered Jake's room and found Jenny at his bedside. She jumped at the sound of the door and turned toward it.
"Jess!" Jenny said as she hopped to her feet.
She hurried over to Jessica and hugged her tight but then let go and jumped back.
"Oh god, Jess, I didn't hurt you did I?" she asked worriedly. "I didn't even think because you looked like you needed a hug so bad."
Jessica smiled then pulled Jenny back into a hug again.
"You didn't hurt me, Jenny," she assured her. "I just had a really great hug from Roxie before we caught the elevator but I can always use more."
"We came as soon as we heard," she said. "I got about a half dozen messages when we got back in cell phone range."
"Range?" Jessica asked.
"We were up in the mountains," Tommy explained. "My folks have a cabin up there and we went up there for the New Year. Reception is spotty at best but when we went into town for more... uh... supplies Jenny's phone went crazy."
"Marie tried to get in touch with me and when that failed she contacted Amy and it kind of snowballed from there," Jenny explained. "We got into town and I had, like, twenty messages between them. As soon as I read them we headed back to the cabin, packed up everything then came here first thing this morning."
Thank you so much for coming. Both of you," Jessica told them then leaned over Jake and kissed his cheek.She looked at his face which was now only slightly swollen and gave him a smile as she brushed some of his brown hair away from the bandage on his head.
"Hey, baby," she said to him. "I made it back to you and I'm doing okay but I need you to heal up too. Okay?"
"Jess, if you want us to give you a few minutes with Jake we can head out to the waiting area," Jenny offered but Jess shook her head as she took a seat next to Jake's bed.
She took his hand in hers with some minor difficulty due to the sling on her left arm. Roxie helped her get better situated until she was comfortable enough.
"Please stay," she said. "Jake would appreciate you being here and I do too. He really does look so much better, Rox. Almost like himself."
"He's going to be okay, Jess," Roxie assured her.
"She's right, Jess," Jenny said. "Jake will be all right. Before he went to get some coffee, his dad told us that the doctors sound hopeful."
Jessica nodded and rubbed the back of Jake's hand while she looked at his now near normal face. She managed a smile.
"He'd better be or I'm going to kick his butt," Jess said. "You hear that, Jake. I will kick your butt then unleash Sarah on you and you know what will happen then."
"Better listen to your Tall Girl, Jake," Roxie told him.
"So what exactly happened?" Tommy asked. "With the crash I mean. We've heard everything from speeding to the ghost of Sheldon's Curve popping up and causing it."
"We know that Jake wasn't speeding, Jessica," Jenny jumped in. "We don't think it was a ghost either but that is one of the rumors."
"I imagine there are a few running rampant about the accident right now," Jessica said.
Jessica explained how all she remembered was leaving for Staci's then waking up after the crash.
"They said that I might remember what happened in a few days or I might not," she told them. "I'm not sure that I want to remember it if I'm being honest."
"It sounds so awful, Jess," Jenny said. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. Once we started back I managed to get in touch with Staci and she told us about how Ray, Bobby and Marybeth found you all and what they had to do. So awful."
"I haven't even gotten to talk to them about it much," she said. "It all feels like it's just this huge blur and I'm just trying to deal with whatever pops up next."
"What is next?" Jenny asked. "You look to be moving around okay. Are they letting you go home?"
"They need to run another test before they decide but most likely I will this afternoon," she answered. "Well I'll be able to go home but I'm not planning on leaving Jake's side. At least until he wakes up."
"Have they said anything about when that might be?" Tommy asked.
"Not that I've heard," Jess answered. "Roxie?"
"I heard they were thinking a few days at least," she answered. "We can ask Jake's dad when he gets back from the cafeteria."
****
"Tim, wake up," Dr. Golden said as she nudged her sleeping husband.
She had arrived back to Jessica's room to his snores and an empty bed.
"Huh, what... what's going on?" He mumbled as he came awake.
"I brought breakfast," she said as he sat up. "Your daughter however is not in her bed."
"She's either in the bathroom or went to see Jake," he said.
Dr. Golden shook her head then saw the note that was on Jessica's pillow. As she read it, Tim looked around the darkened room.
"Speaking of daughters," he said. "We seem to be missing our littlest as well."
"I ran into Pam on the way in," Dr. Golden explained. "She took her to see Jake which is where Jessica is. Roxie left us a note."
"Of course she did," he said. "Did Sarah already eat? Is that how you managed to hand her off to Jake's mom so easily?"
"Pam had doughnuts," she shared. "Krispy Kreme so you know that these biscuits just can't compete in Sarah's head."
"Did you say Krispy Kreme?" he perked up.
