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At finding her and Julian standing in front of her, her aunt screamed and very nearly had a heart attack.
Jess waited for recognition to kick in and her aunt to be relieved to see them, but it never came.
She had to hand it to Kellum. He tried to warn her. He tried to halt her from popping in to say hi, I'm home.
She just hadn't been in the mood to listen to him.
Her aunt was still screaming when Jess tried to think back over anything said after Dez's announcement, "Welcome home, my Queen."
Aunt Sarah telling them to get out of her home floored her enough that she just stood there staring at the older woman. That and the baby in her arms. Had they really been gone that long?
Sure, it felt like an eternity, but had it really been long enough for her baby cousin to already be here? She'd missed everything.
Kellum followed and still trying to explain. "Jessalynn, I can explain everything. If you would accompany me_____."
"Aunt Sarah, you can stop screaming. It's just Jess." Her sister announced, as she entered the room.
By now the baby was out screaming her aunt and drowning out everyone, but Jess only had eyes for her sister.
She looked the same. Except for the weariness around her eyes. Except for the cool detachment in her stance.
Where had the little girl who always threw herself into her sister's arms go?
Her baby sister stood hand and hand with Jetidi and she split her attention between her aunt and the screaming baby and the two teenagers standing nearby.
Jetidi had his eyes down casted and his head bowed.
"Thad honey, mommy is sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Mommy is sorry. Hush, baby boy. Hush, my love. Mel, are these friends of yours? And where did they come from? They just appeared out of nowhere."
Utter chaos.
Not the way she pictured her homecoming.
That was over two weeks ago. Not much has changed since then. Her aunt remembered who she was now, but things were still tensed between all of them. Mel might not have forgotten her, but Jess felt like she barely knew her sister. The quiet girl who moved silently around the house and who was always glued to a freaky alien boy was not the sister she knew and loved.
Sighing, Jess moved closer to the baby crib.
Thaddeus Michael Rue laid sleeping peacefully. It must be so nice to be so clueless to the world around you.
Julian's arms went around her, and he pulled her closer so he could whisper in her ear. "I've been looking for you. Aren't you afraid of waking that spawn of Satan?"
Her little cousin did have a set of lungs on him that could put anyone to shame. He was also very moody and temperamental.
Unless you caught him in rare moments like this one, he was always red and did slightly resemble a little demon. He was a handful. And completely adorable. When he was sleeping, and trust her, when she said that wasn't often.
"I swear he hates me. The only time I can get around him is when he's like this."
Julian's arms tightened around her. "In case you haven't noticed, babe, he hates everyone."
