Finding Jaime

Chapter 53

Pete POV

Jaime was released from the hospital the next day. The doctor told us to get in touch with his neurologist in LA, and have some testing done to see what was causing Jaime to use the wrong word for things while thinking he was saying the word he intended.

It put a bit of a damper on the vacation because Meagan and I worried more about Jaime, and Jaime was less than thrilled that he'd had a seizure, spent a week in the hospital and we were definitely watching him a lot closer. I know he felt like we were crowding him, but my son had had a seizure that had landed him in the hospital for a week. I worried. It's what I do. I'm a parent.

Marvel clung to Jaime when he came back from the hospital. The day he was released he asked if he could just stay in his room at the hotel and sleep. I didn't really want him isolating himself, but I also knew he needed some uninterrupted sleep. Hospitals are horrible places for sick people.

Marvel didn't want Jaime out of her sight, and he was happy to let her lie on his bed with him while he napped.

The younger boys wanted to go swimming in the hotel pool, so I took them down for a while. I texted Meagan after an hour and asked her to switch off with me so I could be upstairs with Jaime when he woke up.

She came down to the pool and said she'd checked in on Jaime and Marvel and they were both fast asleep. And that she had indeed checked Jaime was just sleeping. I smirked. Meagan really loved Jaime. And I'm pretty sure Jaime was pretty fond of her, too.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" She asked me when she came to the pool.

I sighed. How do I answer that?

"I hope so. We'll figure things out when we get home. Let's try to make the rest of the trip great and memorable for everyone, okay?  Let's try not to dwell on this."

Meagan nodded, gave me a kiss and went over to the boys. I smiled after her, shook my head at how lucky I was to have her and how much she cared not only about our daughter, but also my boys. All three of them.

I got off the elevator on our floor and went into our room. I saw Meagan had left Jaime's bedroom door partly open, so I peeked in and saw Marvel sprawled out on top of Jaime, her head on his chest, her hand on his face. And Jaime was laying there, his arm around Marvel, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey," I whispered. He looked over to the door and smiled.

"Hey," he whispered back.

"You good? Want me to move her?"

"No. It's okay. She's not heavy. And, I kinda like having her here," he smiled.

"If you change your mind, don't feel bad. I'll be right out here, okay?"

Jaime nodded and I pulled the door closed but didn't close it fully. I turned on the TV on low volume and watched a little while checking texts and emails and checking in with the neurologist to book an appointment when we returned to the States.

About half an hour later, Marvel came running into the living area and jumped in my lap.

"Well, hello there short stuff," I said, adjusting her so we were both comfortable. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Uh huh. Jaime is good pillow," she smiled. Jaime came into the living area and flopped onto the couch beside me. Marvel turned her head and smiled at him. He smiled back.

"And Marvel's a good blanket," he said.

I smiled. One of the things I'd worried about when Jaime came to live with us was how he'd get along with his siblings. Especially in light of how we'd met and him finding out his mother had hidden who his father is from him. And then finding out exactly who his father is. He had every right to be mad, to completely reject all of us. But he'd become smitten by his baby sister and got along well (after a bit of a rough spot) with his brothers. He'd blended into our family so well, it was hard to believe he hadn't always been with us.

"How're you feeling?" I asked him.

"Fine," he said, simply.

I nodded. He's 16. I'm not expecting he's going to give a dissertation on his feelings.

"We're seeing your neurologist on the Wednesday we get home," I said. Jaime's features clouded over for a minute then he nodded.

"Okay," he said. I didn't think he'd be happy about it, but I'd learned something interesting about Jaime. As tough as he acts, he's a smart and compassionate young man. He knows he should get checked after what happened.

But he also is a teenager dealing with not only the biggest upheaval of his life, but also a possible brain injury. And while he got frustrated, especially when he was either tired or emotional and he started to stutter, he was taking a lot of this in stride. I was proud of him. And I wasn't sure I told him. So I figured now was the best time.

"Jaime," I said, looking over at him. His head was back over the back of the couch and his eyes were closed.

"Mmhm?" He asked opening his eyes and turning his head a bit to look over at me.

"I'm not sure I've told you this, but I'm really proud of you," I said.

"Thanks, but for what?" He asked, frowning a little in confusion.

"You've had the biggest upheaval of your life, and then a couple of pretty gnarly issues. But despite a couple of hiccups, you've taken a lot of this in stride. You're great with Marvel and the boys," Marvel's head popped up at her name and she grinned at Jaime. "And Meagan just adores you. And I could be wrong, but you don't seem to totally hate her."

Jaime smiled.

"Yeah, she's okay, I guess," he smirked.

"Oh. Just okay?" I smiled back.

Jaime shrugged.

"And Marvel, well, I guess she's somewhat tolerable," he said.

"What's that mean?" She asked.

"It means that I guess you're okay, too," Jaime said. Marvel sat up and looked at Jaime.

"I just okay?" She frowned and put her hands on her hips.

Jaime reached out for her and I handed her to him.

"You are the best little sister in the world," Jaime said, cuddling her on his lap and then tickling her. She screeched and laughed.

"No Jaime! No tickle!" Marvel laughed.

"What is going on in here?" Meagan asked, smiling with two boys wrapped in towels beside her.

"It would seem Marvel is getting tickled by her big brother," I said.

"Saint! Bronx! Help me! Jaime tickling me!" She laughed. The boys looked at each other and went over. But instead they started tickling her, too.

When all four of the kids were tickled out, Meagan got the boys to shower, and we started getting ready for dinner. We had three nights left in London and we were going to go see a show after dinner.

Everyone was dressed and ready to go on time and off we went. I kept an eye on Jaime, as I'd been doing since he got out of the hospital. He seemed alright. He didn't seem off balance or anything and hasn't complained of a headache or anything.