The Last HeartBeat

Chapter 36 Chills, Bills and Thrills

"How was the check up?" Logan asked as they drove from the hospital, Jake had been quiet since he came out from seeing his temporary Doctor, all the way to the car he was more focused on his phone then filling his family in.

"Is everything going better sweetie?" Pam asked when Logan didn't get an answer, "Everything's fine" Jake finally replied in a distracted tone, "Is the medicine working for you boy?" Greg chimed in, "It's okay" Jake said keeping his tone, Logan frowned in worry, throughout the process Jake had kept a smile on his face and was mostly open about things...He wondered if he heard something worse from this "Dr.Herbert" that he wasn't sharing it as to not scare anyone...

"Jake, you want something to eat?" Logan said trying to point out the restaurants while they drove, "I can take you to taco Bell, that's your favorite right?" Logan asked shooting him a grin, "I'm nauseous" Jake told him, not bothering to look up still focusing on his phone,
Logan patted his shoulder before looking back ahead at the road gnawing at his lower lip as anxious thoughts ran through his brain.

"Jakey, you have to eat" Pam urged him, "Not now" Jake said, "What'd the doctor say?" Greg asked now getting curious himself as he sat up closer in the backseat, Jake was about to respond when Logan spoke up, "It's getting late in the day, I'm sure you two wanna rest and check back up on your houses, and me and Jake got work to do, we'll probably split up for now" Logan said, "Bu-" Pam began speaking but Logan gave her a look making her stop, Logan had a feeling Jake really wanted to be alone, the reason why he couldn't figure out..., so he decided to just give him that, he was sure he let Jake know he had his back for whatever, and if he needed him he could come and talk to him when he was ready...But for now, pressuring him would just close him off more.

Logan walked Jake back to his door from his car, to help him get pass the few fans outside, and mostly because he wanted to say goodbye in case Jake didn't call him for the rest of the day. "I'll see you bro" Jake said as Logan gave him a one armed hug, "I'll see you... Seriously though, text me if something's up" Logan told him pointing at him when they released, Jake just nodded keeping his gaze down before going in shutting the door behind him, Logan sighed before going back to his car.

"Is he okay?" Pam asked while Logan started his car back up, "He didn't say, I don't know what happened" Logan said, "Seems like he'd talk to his family, we've been out here for weeks just to be with him" Greg said, "He still needs space Dad, Jake's been in pretty bad situations, he's on Oxygen right now! I'm sure he needs a moment to process sometimes" Logan told him, Great shrugged looking out the window, "I just hope it's good news and he's looking to surprise us..." Pam mumbled hopefully, "Yeah, me too" Logan said.

Jake walked into the house to see Chance and Anthony vlogging with Tessa having a tripod set up with their camera, they were bouncing on the trampoline close in the main room, they were laughing and shrieking when they bounced each other too high, Nick was in the corner at a small desk, every once in a while yelling at them for being stupid bouncing that high in-doors, or just shaking his head and laughing before getting back to whatever on his laptop, the twins watched them bounce, Chad was laughing and throwing stuff at them trying to make them fall, Erika was sitting on the couch crisscrossed eating a bowl of oatmeal watching something on her phone, Tristan Tales was making some goofy video cartoon edits of everyone and a few of the tech people were sitting around getting work done and smiling at the banter going on. Overall the the house was energetic and full, Jake felt like he was looking through it all though, he felt withdrawn and a little lonely...Even if he wanted to join he couldn't, he'd get too tired and weak just doing the things he use to enjoy, and he didn't want any sympathetic eyes on him pitying him, he'd rather they enjoyed themselves instead of feeling awkward if he came over.

Jake tucked his hoodie on and quickly made his way upstairs hoping to not be seen, he made his way to his room shutting the door softly, he laid down on his bed sighing out as he stared at the ceiling, he noticed his room was clean now, even his bed was made, he was a little confused as to how and why, but way too tired to get up and investigate. Jake took off his backpack laying it next to him adjusting his tubes. Resting was so hard to do when he had so much on his mind, in the car he was looking over figures for his business, texting his managers about everything going wrong, they were telling to make new content, it wasn't exactly a threat, but it felt like one when they told him if they didn't have anything to manage they didn't have a reason to be around...Maybe it was just suppose to be something to push him to try harder regaining a focus on his company despite his sickness, maybe it really was a warning...Whatever it was
Jake was stressed out, the last thing he needed was for people to lose faith in him and his company and just walk out.

Jake sat up running his hands down his face in frustration, before standing up fully, he went to the oxygen tank accessories he had in the corner of his room, he had to fill his tank for the night, so hesitantly he hooked his tank up to the bigger machine to fill it, it was hard to figure out even with instructions, but he didn't really have a choice and spent a good fifteen minutes just setting it up, it took another hour or so just to fill, and Jake took that time to post a tweet or two, he thanked his fans who were still there, and apologized for what he would call "stale content" and promised to have more stuff up soon. Jake rolled his eyes at the almost obligatory hate comments, and people in general telling him to give up, and counting down the days till the daily vlogs stopped... Thankfully Jake remembered he had started filming mini "vlogs" in preparation of a long day without time to film anything else thanks to all the doctor visits and business meetings he had to keep up with now.
Jake had another reaction video to post for the day, it was a reaction to the fans content of him and for him, while it was exciting for them, they were still anxiously waiting for Jake's normal crazy fun content, instead of him sitting in a room most of the time alone, it was hard for Jake to watch the content as well, most of it with clips from his old vlogs...It was a look back into his old life, before he got so sick, it was honestly hard to see, and he even had to edit out a lot of parts of him staring longingly at the old him...

After Jake's tank was filled he went to get ready for bed, it was still early in the evening, but he was tired, he should have ate, but he honestly was nauseous from anxiety and being sick, so he just slowly got his pajamas on his shivering body and got ready to lay down, hoping he'd feel better in the morning so he could get work done, suddenly he heard a knock on the door spooking him out of his thoughts.

"Jake?" It was Erika's voice, his mind automatically shot to her kissing him on the forehead earlier that day, he smiled a little before answering her, "It's open" Jake said, Erika came in to Jake's room carefully, she saw him laying there in a gray t-shirt and yellow pajama pants, he had his tank beside his bed the cord feeding into his nose, his curtains were closed and the only light he had on was a small lamp and his phone light.

"So you are home" Erika said smiling, "You looking for me?" Jake asked tilting his head, "Yeah, I called Logan to see if you got home yet- guess you snuck by us" Erika said slowly coming closer trying not to show that she was slightly staring at Jake's attachments, "Yeah, I was tired..." Jake answered somewhat truthfully, "How was the checkup?" Erika asked standing by his bed, "My doctor wasn't there, it was just some other guy telling me stuff I know...He said their still working on my actual diagnosis so they know what treatment will actually work" Jake explained to her, "Ohh..." Erika said looking around the room, "Well how do you feel?" Erika asked looking back at him, "Still not good...But you know, still on that grind" Jake said coughing a little, Erika laughed a bit.

"Are you hungry? You didn't eat dinner did you?" Erika questioned, "No mommy, I haven't eaten" Jake said chuckling a bit, "I'll make you some oatmeal, it's good for you" She said, "I'm not hungry Rik" Jake said before pulling his blanket up, "Jake, you have to eat, you need your strength" Erika told him, Jake chuckled giving in rather quickly, "Fine, only if it's apple cinnamon" He said, "Good boy" Erika said in a goofy voice before pinching Jake's cheek making him laugh a little, he felt better being able to joke and get his mind off of all the stress, he loved his family but they were too serious with it sometimes and didn't help him calm down really, especially his parents.

"And keep your room more tidy too young man!" Erika scolded him still joking halfway, "You cleaned my room?" Jake asked a little shocked breaking "character" a bit, "You were busy, so why not?" Erika said shrugging, Jake just stared still a little in awe, Erika was being a lot nicer to him then normal, he couldn't say he didn't like it, but it was still very strange to understand, "I won't tolerate it getting that messy again though!" Erika said pointing an accusing finger at him, making Jake get out of his daze and laugh, "Sorry mommy" Jake said though laughing, "Hmmph" Erika puffed before spinning around her hair swishing with her as she left to make Jake's dinner.

Jake and Erika stayed up a little longer after she brought him the bowl of oatmeal and a cup of milk, she stayed until he finished his food, she tried to keep the conversation as far from his troubles as she could while they talked and teased one another, eventually Erika went back to her room saying her goodnight to him before she left turning out his light and taking his dishes away, with at least a friendly conversation before going to bed, Jake was feeling better, and went to sleep a little less upset then earlier, hopefully the feeling would last...

A/N: Don't forget to like and comment! 💞