Finding Jaime

Chapter 85

Pete POV

Jaime and Andy were gone for about two hours. I tried not to worry too much, but he's my son and he hasn't been well, but I also know Andy will make sure he's safe and will bring him back if he thinks Jaime needs it.

As soon as they were back, Jaime went straight back out to the bus and said he needed to lie down for a while. The rest of the guys - Joe, Patrick and myself - were in the dressing rooms getting ready for the show, press, etcetera.

"Pete, keep an eye on him," Andy said.

"I do. Why. What happened?"

"It's probably nothing but he got light headed after our float. It might have been just from being relaxed and then standing up. He didn't pass out or anything, but he did get lightheaded. Just... keep an eye on him."

Well, that's not what I needed to hear. I went straight out to the bus to check on Jaime.  He was in his bunk, the curtain closed.

"Jaime?" I said quietly as I approached his bunk. "You okay?"

He didn't answer. I got nervous and pulled back the curtain. He was laying on his bunk, eyes closed, breathing steadily. I put my hand on his forehead. He felt a little warm, but not too warm. He was still battling an infection.

Jaime's eyes opened.

"What?" He whined.

"Andy said you weren't feeling well at the salt cave. I came out to check on you."

Jaime stared at me for a second.

"What?" He said.

"I came to check on you," I frowned.

"I thought that's what you said," he smiled. "I'm fine."

"Are you? Andy said you got lightheaded at the salt cave and you came straight out here. So I came to check on you.  You feel a little warm."

"Yeah. I think laying in salt water for almost an hour and literally not thinking or feeling anything, like, reset something?  I was so relaxed. I think that's all it was."

"Call me crazy, I want to check your temperature."

"Crazy," Jaime said as I went to get the thermometer.  I smirked at him.

I came back and checked his temperature. It was 100.5°. Not high, not worrisome, but worth keeping an eye on.

"You planning on staying back here during the show?" I asked Jaime as I sat on his bedside.

"Probably," he mumbled into his arm, which he had replaced over his eyes.

"Okay. I'm going to send Thomas out later to check on you. I'll try to check more before we go onstage. Okay? And probably Don."

"Whatever. Can I go to sleep now?" Jaime complained.

"Yeah, go ahead," I smirked at him. He didn't see it. 

Jaime rolled over and I texted Don, our tour doctor.  I told him that Jaime had gone to the salt cave with Andy and now was back having been light headed there and now with a low grade fever. Don texted me back that he'd check in on Jaime shortly and throughout the show.

I thanked him and went back to the dressing room. I had press still.

I saw Andy as soon as I walked into the dressing room. I was overcome with anger and marched up to him.

"Why didn't you bring him straight back when he got light headed?!" I fumed at the much larger man. "He's got a fever now!"

"Pete, I asked him if he wanted to come back. He said no. We literally just sat in recliners right after. He relaxed. That's all he did. He still has an infection. It's not out of the realm of possibility that he'd run a low fever despite the antibiotics. It's only been a couple of days."

"Exactly!" I said. "It's only been a couple of days. And not only did you let my son nearly pass out, you didn't bring him back here right away!  You didn't even text me to let me know Jaime had an incident!"

"Pete, do you honestly think I would let Jaime come to any harm?  If I thought he needed to come straight back or even go to the hospital you would have been my first call. Maybe second if I'd thought we needed, like, an ambulance.  Yes, Jaime is sick. Yes, Jaime's immune system is practically non existent. Yes, Jaime is fighting an infection.  But Pete, Jaime is. Not. A. Fragile. Piece. Of. Porcelain.  I'm insulted you think I would intentionally let Jaime come to harm. I'm going to chalk this up to you being a concerned parent of a seriously ill child. But check yourself. Because we've known each other for a long time and I would think you would trust me more than that."

Andy frowned at me and stormed out of the room. I sighed. He was right. I was placing blame in the wrong place. I should be blaming myself for letting Jaime go in the first place.

Patrick came in the room just then.

"Pete, you can't go around blaming everyone for Jaime being under the weather," he said. Obviously, Andy had complained to him. He also knew I'd probably not go off on Patrick. 

"I know. I know. I'll apologize to Andy. I shouldn't have let Jaime go in the first place."

"Pete, he's almost 16.  You've got to trust that he knows his limits," Patrick reasoned.

"He's fighting cancer, Patrick. He doesn't know his limits. His port got infected and he didn't say anything. He had to have known," I argued.

"Pete, cut him a little slack," Patrick said. And then stopped and smirked. "Which I recall you told us when he came to live with you is what you were doing in regards to his attitude at the time."

I looked at Patrick. He was right. I can't hold Jaime back just because he's sick. If he doesn't beat this... well, I want him to have experiences.

I went out into the hallway to find Andy. Unsurprisingly, he was in the gym in the venue.

"Hey, Andy," I said, walking into the room.

"Pete," Andy said, shortly.

"Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone off on you. Not like that and not at all. I have to remember that Jaime still deserves to experience stuff. I need to let go a little. Because if he doesn't beat this.... I can't be the reason he doesn't get to experience things. I have to accept that there might be times when he does stuff and then needs time to recover."

"I appreciate the apology. Jaime's a good kid, Pete. He knew he should have told you about his shoulder but he was worried he was taking up too much of your time."

"When did he say that?" I asked, leaning against the doorframe.

"In the salt cave. We talked, Pete. And really, he's a good kid. Smart, too. But confused. He doesn't quite know where he fits in here. And that's not because you're doing anything wrong, before you think that. He knows you can't focus 100% on him and no, he does not want to go back to LA right now."

"Why didn't he tell me this?"

"Because, Pete, he doesn't want to be more of a burden on you than he is with his chemo appointments throughout the tour.  He doesn't want you to send him home."

I frowned. I hadn't considered sending Jaime home at any point. Why would he think I did?